


Nothing Ever Changes for Lance

by whyislifesosqaure



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Legendary Defender - Fandom, vld - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angsty lance, Anxiety, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Depressed Lance (Voltron), Dramatic Lance, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Flirty Lance, He loses his appetite, Heavy Angst, Homophobia, Hunk just wants to know what the fuck is going on, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I hate Yuzurak and you should too, I hate myself for writing this too shhhh, If anyone I know reads this pls don't you're gonna hate me (looking at one person in particular), Internal Conflict, Internalized Homophobia, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance and Keith may not end up together, Lance is really fucking sad, Lance slowly develops disordered eating, Langst, M/M, Mainly because of the dark shit that happens in this fanfic, Non-Consensual Touching, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Team, Pining Lance (Voltron), Rape, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sad Lance (Voltron), Sadness, Scared Lance (Voltron), Suicidal Lance (Voltron), Suicidal Thoughts, The light heartedness in the first chapter is an illusion, There is literally no consent so if that's triggering please don't read, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Triggering Situations, anxious lance, klance, please prcoeed with caution, please read all THE TAGS, slight self-harm??, so basically TW for eating disorders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-02-08 17:10:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whyislifesosqaure/pseuds/whyislifesosqaure
Summary: Keith. Think about Keith. Beautiful, purple eyes, perfect glossy porcelain skin, a stupid mullet-Yuzuraks moan interrupts Lances thought process and the situation at hand is being forced upon Lance once again. He feels his body shake with sobs and pleas and cries for the galra to stop, but nothing changes.Because nothing ever changes for Lance.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Proceed reading this fanfic with caution. Please read all the tags.

“Woohoo! Mission success!”

“Yeah, but we lost a crystal.”

Lance smirks, “Not to worry little Pidgeon, I caught it before it could fall!”

“Nice going Lance!” Hunk yells.

“Good job, Allura can-” Lance cuts Shiro off. “I can do it Shiro!”

Without another word, Lance connects the comms from the lions to the castle, Corans face appearing on everyone's screen. For once Lance feels useful, and he doesn’t want this amazing feeling of being wanted to leave.

“Paladins! Mission success I see!”

“Yes. Coran how much longer until the Blade get there?” Allura’s angelic voice reaches through the comms and to his ears, making Lance melt. Everyone watches impatiently as Coran checks the time, “In about a varga, and if my calculations prove correct, about an hour in earth time!” Lances breath hitches. He’s going to see Keith again, and in under an hour. Under an hour he’ll be reunited with Keith. _‘Keith..’_

“A VARGA?!” Allura’s voice booms, causing Lance to wince. “We don’t have much time, come on Paladins we have to get back to the castle before they do!”

“No need to worry, Princess. We’ll be there faster than you can say-”

“Lance, look out!” Lances head shoots up from looking down to see an asteroid moving towards him at an unusual fast pace. “Shit!” With a pull of his thrusters, red shoots upwards, dodging the large flying rock within seconds. A small amount of panic settles in on Lance. _‘Holy shit if I didn’t-’_

“Lance, you okay?”

The cuban snaps out of his daze. “Of course I’m fine! It was just a small asteroid! And thanks Pidge, but I could’ve handled that myself~” A soft groan is heard from Pidges line and Lance whinces. _‘Probably not the best thing to say..’_

Once landing back in the castle, Lance can’t help but feel exhaustion wash over him. He gives out a long sigh before sluggishly rising out of the cockpit. _‘Happy thoughts. Keith is coming back within the next varga.’_ Stumbling out of his lion, he breathes in deeply. _‘I can do this.’_

“So Paladins…” Allura announces adjusting her hair as Lance is the last to walk into the bridge, “They’ll be here within the next dobashes.”

“A hundred and twenty tics to be exact!” Coran bounces in, twirling his moustache.

“Yes Coran. Now we, as team Voltron, need to be exceptionally nice. They are our allies, we need to be kind and welcoming.” Lance feels her gaze linger on him for a few moments. “No pranks, threats, unnecessary squabbling, and definitely no fighting.” Lance groans, “So you’re saying no fun?!”

“We can still have fun without annoying people, Lance.” Pidge chimes in with a smirk.

_‘I’m not that annoying.’_

The cuban scoffs, “I don’t annoy people, my charm is just too much to handle!” To further his statement, Lance strikes a pose. Pidge cackles.

“If you’re not annoying that means technology must be my biggest weakness.” Lance splutters, looking to Hunk to back him up.

“Ooo good one Pidge!” ‘ _Ouch.._ ’ Lance grimaces, letting out a breath.

“I can’t believe you two! Especially you Hunk! I thought-”

“Look guys,” A clink is heard as a humanoid hand is placed on Lances armored shoulder, causing him to shiver. “We are all entitled to our own opinions, but..” Shiro looks down at Lance. “The Princess said no squabbling.” Lance goes to retaliate until he sees the tiredness in Shiro’s eyes. He immediately shuts up.

“Thank you Shiro, now they are our guests. We have to treat them with utter most respect.” Allura pauses for a second, swiping her hand through the air, commanding a hologram to pop up she continues, “So, here’s the plan for when they get here.”

Everyone groans.

____

The first to gracefully step out of the small ship is an obviously older Galra soldier, the missing top lip his most prominent feature. Long strides accompany his stoic expression and broad body. Lance fixes his slouching posture, wanting nothing more than to not look like the odd one out. The second to get out, from the co-pilot seat, is obviously the second-in-command. His tall intimidating stature makes up for his slight lack of build compared to what Lance assumes is his superior officer. What sets him aside is his cute small ears peering out the top of his head, contrasting with his cold exterior and, dare Lance say, very pretty face.

Allura smiles brightly, stepping forward to greet the commanders and crew that follow after, her armor not making any sound as she gracefully crosses the gap between the Paladins of Voltron and the Blade of Marmora. Allura’s decision to wear her battle armor instead of her royalty robes making an obvious good impression on the commander. Allura greets them in Galran, impressing the commander even more before reverting back to fluent English to continue her introductions and fairly light speech. Lance chuckles in his mind, remembering when both Coran and Allura were first learning English so the Lions wouldn’t tire in translating everything for the Paladins and vice versa. Shiro was appalled when he heard the princess swear, demanding to know who taught her such foul words, or so help him he’d force them to train until they drop. Lance rubs his thigh subconsciously in remembrance of his pain-engulfing cramp. ‘Stupid Keith and his stupid tell tale ways-’ Wait. Keith.

Lance glances over the small group of Galra soldiers, his find of Keith coming up empty as Allura nears the end of her speech. _‘Dangit where is that pri-’_ When they make eye contact, Lance freezes. He hadn’t noticed Allura’s pause in speech and everyone staring at him in expectancy. Pidge nudges his shoulder.

“Introduce yourself, hotshot.” An evil smile ever-present on her innocent face. With a shaking hand, he brushes it through his hair as a cover up, a charming smile adorning his features, eyes still locked with iridescent purple. “My name is Lance, Paladin of the Red Lion - former Paladin of the Blue Lion.” Allura clasps her hands together making Lance jump and twist his head in her direction.

“I’m sure you’re all itching to get planning for the mission, but I’m sure being acquaintanced and helping unpack would be good to build strengths in us as a team beforehand.”

The galra crowd disperses to help unpack from the ship, Lances breath hitches in his throat when he catches Keith making his way through to Shiro who goes to embrace him in one of his fatherly hugs-

“Not here.” Keith mutters lightly, pushing Shiro’s arms away. Shiro sputters. Lances jaw drops.

“What do you mean ‘not here’?!”

“Yeah, Keith!” Lance adds, waltzing up to the pair. “What do you mean? Or would you prefer one of ol’ Lancey-Lances hugs first~” Lance sings. He hears a clink on his shoulder and he goes stiff, imagining the grave-inducing glare Shiro is giving him right now. Keith sighs, pushing the cuban out of the way with ease.

“I don’t have time for this Lance.” His smile falters for a brief second, anxiety drowning him because _does this mean their relationship has gone back to square one or is this just Keith being awkward-_ The pressure from Lances shoulder disappears as he hears Keith and Shiro walk away to discuss something. Gosh, _it’s always **something** with Keith-_

“Are you going to stand their sulking all day or help unpack?” Lance looks down at the menacing gremlin. They lock eyes for a moment, Pidge with a questioning glance and Lance with a stoic stare. An urge hits Lance as he stares at her slightly frazzled hair. An urge so bad that he most likely won’t be able to walk for the next three days. Picking his arm up in one fluid motion, he ruffles her hair. In retaliation she swats his hand away, almost dropping the three boxes stacked atop each other. Lance just laughs at her.

“If you do that again so help me I will tell everyone your secrets and then-”

“Didn’t Allura say no threatening?”

“Didn’t she also say to be kind and to not be a deadweight?” The older teen gives an over-dramatic thinking pose for a second.

“Not that I remember..but she did say to pester the Green Paladin on site.”

Pidge scoffs. “Yeah, and she also said she returns her feelings for you.”

Lance feels the burn right in his heart as he splutters on his comeback. “Gotta go and help, ya know?” She cackles before taking off up the steps and out the door. _‘Yup, that’s gonna leave a mark.’_

“Excuse me.” More of a command than a question, Lance feels his own brain smash itself against his skull as he turns his body around hesitantly to find the more attractive commander stride up to him, arms folded, stoic expression. _What is it with Galra always being such emotionless beings-_

“There are a few more boxes loaded into the left wing of the ship, could you help me with them?”

Lance covers up his fear with one of his signature grins. “Of course.” The galra moves his head in a nod, walking in front of Lance and leading him to the left wing.

Anxiety claws at Lances stomach, this Galra being so damn attractive yet bloody terrifying really messing with his brain and the thought of Keith and his relationship being nothing more than rivals again-

“Just here.” They come to a halt, Lance eyeing up the one box left in the spacecraft. Lance can feel the Galra’s eyes lingering as he walks past him to grab the last of the ships supplies. A knowing smirk graces Lances features, anxiety be damned, as he gives a slight show of swaying his hips before bending over to pick up a rectangle-shaped box. Lance ticks off the boxes of Alluras rules in his mind; no pranking, squabbling, threatening, or fighting. The cuban teen turns around box in hand, smug smirk still tugging at his plump lips. Flirting. No one said anything about flirting. His hypothesis was correct; he makes eye contact with the alien a few feet in front of him. Strolling past, Lance gives a charming wink. He can feel the Galra’s eyes stay on him while walking through the door, and a shiver crawls up his spine for a fleeting moment. Lance shrugs it off before looking up and down the hall, realization washing over him. _‘Where was I meant to take these boxes?!’_

______

A group meeting had been called, of course, after Lance felt the sweet relief of sitting down for not even a second. The teen grumbles, standing up once again and leaving the comfortable confinement of his room.

“Hey buddy!” Hunk wraps his arm around Lances slim shoulders, causing him to slouch and whine. The older teen gives him a questioning glance, eyebrow raised.

“I had just finished fixing up seats for the bigger dining haul, and just as my butt hits my comfy, cozy bed, Allura calls a team meeting! I’m never gonna get that glorious half hour back because someone *cough* Shiro and Keith *cough* were too busy talking about their next moves to help with the stupid chairs!”

Hunk whistles innocently, glancing away from the frustration radiating off the cuban teen. It was Lances turn to raise an eyebrow before stopping mid-walk and glaring up at his soon-not-to-be-best-friend. “And what were you doing while I was working my butt off?”

“Who, me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Couldn’t be.”

“Fuck you.”

“Look it was an important matter!”

“From what I remember Hunk, having a robotics war with Pidge isn’t very high on the list of important matters.” Lance takes two salty steps forward before being pulled back into a warm embrace.

“If it makes you feel any better, I won. She owes me the videogame you guys purchased for a month.” Pride takes over, kicking the saltiness out of his system.

“Really?” That little gremlin had been hiding that system from them for almost three months now, because she was utterly terrified Lance would spill space goo on it again.

“Yes, really.”

“Paladins! Meeting on the bridge! Hunk and Lance you have thirty seconds!” Just as quickly the saltiness returns, a rumbling groan leaving his throat.

“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get there before our generous thirty seconds is up rather than being subjected to training until we drop.” With that, Lance agrees,

“Race you there?” Hunk rolls his eyes lightly before smiling. “You’re on.”

Running onto the bridge wasn’t one of Lances best choices; having his team mates eyes on him wasn’t the cause for Lances heart jumping out of its chest. The Blade Of Marmora’s leading officer looks down at Lance in disapproval, trying to fight his slight amusement of the former Blue Paladin. The second in command catches Lances eye, looking the teen up and down with an emotionless expression; a slight glint in his eye. Keith’s glare is what causes Lance to gulp and walk backwards into Hunks chest, a wave of relief washing over Lance in realisation that Hunk is still behind him. Allura is quick to divert everyone's attention from the troubling duo with a clap of her hands and a booming voice to accompany it. “Now that everyone is finally here, we can carry on with our mission plans.” She brings up a hologram with the command of her finger, a blueprint of the galra base that Lance guesses will be the target for this mission. “Shiro, Keith and I talked. We believe sending half of the 4th division to the Galra base, and half to the surrounding ships. If we-”

Lance zones out, the wall behind Allura becoming a lot more interesting _with its black mark to the left and how on earth did that get there-_ “Lance, is that okay with you?” Allura comes back into focus in his line of vision, feeling the questioning stares from everyone else.

“Ah, yes. Yes it is definitly fine with me.” The teen races out his response. Yeah, he loves attention but not when he looks like an idiot-

“While Lance and Shiro stay behind, we’ll have Keith stay close to the 4th division A for backup. He’ll pilot red still.”

_Wait...what?_

“So I’ll be piloting red for 4th division A and B? Wouldn’t it be better for me to not pilot a lion? We don’t even know if red will respond to me yet.”

“The only lion we can use is green for her cloaking. Red, Yellow and Blue are for backup. Hunk, you’ll be close with 4th division B for majority of the time, then at a certain point Keith goes with red from B to A to help infiltrate the ships. Because we infiltrate the base before the ships, it should be more of a surprise attack for the ships and base. Pidge, when you deliver division B into the base, get out as soon as you can so you can deliver division A to the ships. But if you need to fight, then fight. If you can’t get back, blue will need to take division A.” Allura gives a wide smile to Lance, in which he returns, panic settled behind his eyes.

_I am...so confused._

“Commander Stenton and Yuzurak, any suggestions or anything you think we should change?” Lance feels a small pit of laughter bubble at the back of his throat at the names. He feels eyes land on him and turns his head to find the younger galra staring. The teen gulps, scared shitless that he heard his almost-laughter _and he’s going to kill me-_

“I think that’s a solid plan. Yuzurak,” The lead commander turns to the younger in questioning, “What do you think?”

Yuzurak gives Lance one final look over before turning to his superior, Lance feels a shiver roll down his spine. “This is a well thought out plan. Of course, coming from the Princess of Altea, I’m very impressed.” The superior gives a soft chuckle, punching Yuzuraks arm in a friendly manner.

“There’s no need to be so formal. We may be here to carry out a mission, but it doesn’t mean we can’t form a good bond with the Paladins.” He lightly scolds, giving a warm smile to Lance and Hunk before walking out. “You boys need to be on your best behavior for this mission. No more tardiness.” Lance gulps, an apology ready on his lips. Stenton gives out another hearty chuckle, causing the teen to take a step back in surprise before the galra lowers his voice, “Although your little run was quite amusing.” He clamps Hunk on the shoulder. “Yuzurak, make sure divisions A and B are seated for dinner by 8’oclock sharp. Any later and they’re on dish duty.” With that final command, he walks out. Leaving everyone to stand in surprise, confusion written on everyone's faces. Keith’s the first to talk, rubbing his head slightly.

“Yeah, he’s a bit...different from the other commanders from other divisions of the Blade. He tries to seem stoic but it doesn’t last very long.”

Coran laughs in amusement. “I believe we’re gonna get on quite well!” Allura smiles in agreement, leaving the four remaining Paladins to stare at each other in disbelief. Shiro shakes his head before laughing lightly himself. The laughter catches on to Pidge, who passes it on to Hunk. Lance shares the same amusement, but can’t find it in himself to laugh along as he feels eyes on him. He decides to look to his right, to find Keith trying to hide his laughter and Yuzurak, stoic as always just...staring. Another shiver rolls down Lances spine. He can’t bring himself as to why, but tries his best to ignore it. He gives Yuzurak a charming smile and a wink. Lance feels confidence radiate from his body in waves as the galra’s eyes travel from his face downwards and back up again. _He’s just another awkward galra._ Lance reassures himself. _Another galra who’s awkward with emotions._


	2. Chapter 2

Over the past few days, Lance has noticed some odd things. How he’d feel eyes on him whenever he found himself alone in the kitchen or lounge, and how much of a starer Yuzurak really is. It’s as if his galran-yellow eyes are always lingering, along with the odd touch here and there whenever they were paired up to train together. Usually Lance would feel flattered, chatting up a storm, using his charm and soft features to win the other party over. But this...this didn’t feel right. In all honesty Lance was slightly...terrified. He never meant for the second-in-command Galra soldier to actually play along with his flirting! All the other guests and aliens they’ve helped in the past tended to get sick of Lance after the first day, or it was a mutual agreement that it was for fun.

But there was no mutual agreement at all for whatever...this was.

Yuzurak was hard to read. His face always stoic, eyes showing no emotion, his stance the same,  _ slim yet broad shouldered body- _

The teen grumbles, shoving his face further into his fluffy pillow. 

“Hey buddy, you good?” Hunk calls from the floor, louder than he was meant to as his focus lays off the video game screen for a slight second, letting Pidge smash a few buttons to try and one up his moves.

“Pidge!”

“What? You were the one who looked away!” Lance hears a sigh leave Hunk as Pidge pauses the game, excusing herself to go and grab snacks and water in a very Pidge-like manner.

“See you in a bit losers, tummies making the rumblies.”

“Bring me back some goo!” 

“Yeah yeah.” She waves her hand, the door falling closed behind her. Lance moves his head from peaking through his hands to look down at Hunk, who’s waiting patiently.

“...what?”

“Are you good?” 

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“...yeah.” 

The older teen stands, walking over to Lances bed and wrapping his arms around his smaller frame, lying on his side to face his friends distraught expression.

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“No.”

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll guess.”

“Okay.” Hunk frowns, anxiously running his hand along Lances side to calm himself down and hopefully comfort Lance  _ because he is sad- _

“Is it about Keith? Because he told me to tell you that he was sorry about snapping at you like that when they arrived and-”

“If he was really sorry he would come tell me himself.”

“Lance-”

“Anyway, no. That’s not the reason.” Hunks frown deepens, scanning Lances face for any signs of doing **_that_ ** again. Lance breaks eye contact from Hunk; a little overwhelmed by his constant gaze.

“Is it about that time on Capleom?” Lance feels his breath hitch in his throat, moving back a little stunned with wide eyes as if he’d just seen his mother die. 

“H-Hunk! No, th-that’s not it I-”  _ Think of something! _

“No! Nononono I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable Lance I’m sorry-” Lance feels slight guilt from his reaction to Hunk’s guess, not wanting Hunk to feel like it’s still a sore issue for Lance and that yes _ he has healed from it otherwise Hunk might tell the rest of the team- _

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, Lance.”

The cuban teen shakes his head, a small smile of reassurance resting on his face. “Hunk, it’s fine.” He reaches Hunks hand and holds it in place, the frantic rubbing of Lances side making Lance feel a little anxious himself. Hunk smiles sheepishly before the frown returns to his face in thought.

Lance decides that, Hunk is never going to guess what is really going on in his brain. And really it’s for the best.

“Let’s go play the-”

“Is it Yuzurak?” Lance stops dead in his tracks, head in mid air, mouth agape.

“Bingo.” Hunk breathes out before continuing. “I’ve noticed some...things Lance and you really shouldn’t be doing anything….funky…” Lance laughs at Hunks choice of words, causing the older teen to blush. 

“Shut up, besides, I don’t want anything to go wrong. He’s an alien, not that I’m trying to discriminate it’s just...it makes me worry Lance.” 

“It does sound like you’re trying to discriminate-”

“Lance no, you know I’m not like that.” Hunk huffs, “I just don’t want you really falling for him and he just plays you or...dies during the mission.” Lance breathes out, looking down at their intertwined hands, appreciating the contrast between caramel and darker skin. 

“In all honesty Hunk, around Yuzurak, I feel-”

 

“GUESS WHO’S BACK AND FOUND SOME WEIRD ALIEN SNACKS!” Pidge stops dead in her tracks as she takes in the sight before her. Lance and Hunk side-by-side on the bed, facing each other, holding hands….she smirks, leaning on the door frame.

“Ya know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you’re dating.” 

Hunk splutters, cheeks red as he stands. “Pidge no!” 

Lance fakes a gasp of pain, cradling his chest. “Oh Hunk, oh how you wound me! I thought we had something special..” He clasps his hand into Hunks, staring intently into the older Paladins brown eyes, “I thought it was true love Hunk! True love!” 

“What...on earth is going on here?” Everyone goes silent, snapping their heads to look behind the short teen in the doorway. Pidge cackles.

“A rom-com, come watch.”

Keith looks on in distaste, folding his arms. “We have training in the morning. You should all be in bed.”

Lance smirks, bringing his hand to his head and falling dramatically backwards onto the bed. “Another boy wants my heart?! I can’t believe it! Who on earth am I going to choose?! The warm, cuddly Hunk or the cold and distant Keith?” 

“Lance-” Jumping to his feet, he stands between the two older teens as Pidge looks on in amusement, stuffing some alien-hybrid food into her mouth. Lance feels anxiety crawling up his throat, realization washing over him that this is the first real conversation, if you could even call it that, that he’s had with Keith since he arrived. He swallows his anxieties as he takes Keith's hand in his and kneels down on one knee, Hunk chokes back a sob, playing along with Lances little charade.

“Lance! How could you! You told me it was true love.” 

“I’m sorry Hunk, but my heart belongs to Keith,” Lance declares, staring up into _ beautiful iridescent purple eyes, his cheek bones prominent as a cute blush adorns his face and  _ **_oh god-_ **

An awkward cough is heard from the doorway, causing Pidge to jump forward towards the trio in surprise as Lance makes eye contact with yellow eyes and a stoic face. Lance quickly lets go of Keiths hand, brushing himself off and looking down, feeling his own blush grow more vibrant as he feels those eyes look his body up and down.

“I am not even going to ask.” Shiro stands in front of the Galra, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to fight off an obvious smile. Pidge chuckles lightly in amusement, obviously waiting for Lance to make a scene about now three men wanting him.

But he doesn’t.

He would if it wasn’t for Yuzurak’s continuous stare, his eyes finally hinting at...something. Was that jealousy? Lance shakes his head in an attempt to get that ridiculous thought out of his mind.  _ Of course it wasn’t, that would be stupid. _

“I was just coming to see what all the commotion was. Keith, I thought you were going to bed.” The half-galra shrugs, crossing his arms and taking a small step away from Lance, the small blush still evident on his features. 

“I was but I got dragged into this mess.” 

Shiro shakes his head, a small laugh rumbling from his throat as he can’t hold it in any longer. “Since you’re all here now so I don’t have to chase after you later, there will be a brief meeting before training tomorrow to introduce the third in command galra leader of the 4th division of the Blade. She’ll be joining us for breakfast.” Shiro gives Lance a stern look, “No flirting, Lance.” 

The teen goes to say something sarcastic about Shiro’s obliviousness to Lances obvious flirting with Yuzurak but hands trap his mouth before he could get a word out. He barely struggles, opting for this being a good thing because he was terrified about how the team would see him if they knew he actually liked boys too- 

That was a fact Lance would happily take to the grave.

“Don’t worry Shiro, I’ll keep him in line.” Pidge salutes, making the black paladin grin in return. 

“Thank you Pidge, gotta keep a sharp eye on him,” Shiro looks past Lance to Hunk, “You should help too.”

“Yeah” Keith budges in, “He’s gonna need all the help he can get.”

Hunk’s grip tightens on Lance as his laughter turns hysterical, causing Lance to hiss in pain, a small whimper trespassing through the young teens lips. Lance feels eyes burning right through him, the stare so intruding he looks up to find everyone still chuckling except Yuzurak. Lance gulps as realization hits him, his heart jumping in his throat at the true intentions of Yuzuraks wandering gaze that looks up and down Lances body at every opportunity.

Lance gulps again in an attempt to swallow his anxiety and to stop the shiver cascading down his spine. He understands now. He chalks it up in his mind that he should probably stay away from Yuzurak from now on.

 

___

 

A rocky cliff, a dead tree, and a crying Lance. This mission turned into a total disaster. He was sent on a small lone mission to retrieve some Crystalitezeom from the cliff-face planet of Capleom so they could repair the food goo machine within the castles system, Coran opting to try get it working with Hunk and Pidge while Allura kept the wormhole open via the castle and Shiro lay in a cryopod from their other missions injuries. 

He was ambushed as soon as he was far away enough from red, the lion frantically trying to find her paladin as Lance ran the opposite direction, no way in hell was he able to run towards red with that many utterly terrifying aliens chasing him.

Lance had scanned the ground for any signs of life before he landed, none except the faint life of trees slowly dying from the desert as the planet slowly shuts its ecosystem down. 

Hell, why not shut his own ecosystem down?

Lance chuckles at his dark humour briefly for referring to himself as an ecosystem.

The teen shuffled away from the tree to lean over the edge, curiosity kicking in his system wondering just how steep the cliff is. He moves to his hands and knees, peering over the small cliff to find the drop a never ending cascade of rocks into what Lance assumes what once was a gushing river. He shakes his head in an attempt to stop the thoughts telling him to  _ give up, just let go, the team will move on quickly enough and find a new, better paladin. Maybe even get Keith back, because no one needs you, Lance. _

Lance shuts his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears because no one will find him until it’s too late, he can’t even call for help since his comms lost signal and he can’t find red. 

But then why doesn’t red try find him? Is she hurt? He can still feel her slight presence, so does that mean red is just sitting there waiting for Lance to go through with this?

_ Even Red thinks I should go through with it. _ He clutches the giant tube holding the Crystalitezeom before rolling it towards the tree.  _ The team will find it eventually. _ Lance shuffles his body closer, hesitantly dangling his legs over the edge of the cliff. Anxiety churns in his stomach as he stares at the rocky ground below.  

Fear clouds his brain, ‘what ifs’ rolling through his mind at a rapid pace. Wiping his sweaty palms on his Paladin armor to try distract himself, to just do it, he can’t stop the thoughts.  _ What if Hunk is the one to find me, I don’t want to traumatise him. Or what if the fall doesn’t even kill me, just leaves me in a bundled mess of pain and broken limbs. What if this was a mistake? What if- _

“I’m pathetic..” Lance weeps, his face falling into his hands.

“Lance?”

Lance freezes, not daring to turn around.

“...Lance?”

Said teen feels his heart begin to race, the anxiousness churning in his stomach now infiltrating his throat in an attempt to find a way out. 

“Do you want to come back here? Give ol’ Hunk a hug?”

A choked sob escapes Lances lips, giving away Hunks obvious suspicions of what the Red Paladin was thinking over.

“Lance, please come back here.” Hunks voice sounds hysterical now.  

He swallows, his throat becoming dry and palms sweaty, as if his own hands are stealing all the saliva from his throat and storing it into his palms. 

“Please Lance…” Hunk takes a hesitant step towards the Red Paladin, “Think about what you’re doing.”

The teen slowly turns his head around to face Hunk, his best friends distraught face striking him in the gut.  _ I’m the worst friend ever. _

“Why don’t we go back to the Castle? Cuddle up under blankets in my room and watch a movie?” The Yellow Paladin tries his best to give a comforting smile, but Lance see’s it come off as him being scared shitless, as if Lance would disagree and jump at any moment.

“Lance, Please. Please.” It wasn’t the fact that Lance was still going to jump anymore,  _ well, maybe I might _ , but in all honesty he was frozen in place from being caught in a situation like this; the sobbing teen didn’t know how to respond.

Hunk takes this opportunity to swoop in, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he grabs his best friend firmly by the shoulders and drags him away from the cliffs edge, back to underneath the safe hanging arms of the dying tree.

Lance feels his anxiety get the best of him, his vomit coming out in a big tidal wave as Hunk cradles the shaking boy to his chest, letting him lean over his arm to puke. Upon looking over to make sure Lance had finished vomiting, Hunk sees the giant tube of Crystalitezeom resting by one of the far away roots of the tree which causes the floodgates to break.

“Holy shit Lance..”

 

___

 

Lance can’t get the image of Hunk literally bawling his eyes out while cradling him out of his mind. Second-hand anxiety swims through his stomach, causing Lance to over think every moment afterwards Hunk had tiptoed around Lance as if every off-handed comment from a teammate would send him over the edge. Sure, it’d leave him crying for some time, but not to the point of wanting to end his life.

That was just a one time thing. He was having a breakdown because he had missed Keith, the lion switch happened, felt like Hunk and Pidge were distancing themselves, felt annoying around Coran, obviously pissed off Allura and Shiro...just didn’t seem right. The constant self-deprecating thoughts getting worse as the years carried on, and the overall situation that was forced upon him during the mission had just pushed him over the edge. It was never going to happen again.

He swallows his anxieties down as he always does, always hoping they’d disappear completely. But unfortunately that’s not how it worked; he didn’t know if it was common to feel this anxious all the time or if it’s because of some of the trauma he’s suffered through by being a Paladin of Voltron, or if he has some condition. The cuban teen shakes it off, not wanting to think about it for too long otherwise it’d make him even more anxious.

Lance looks over at his alien clock, trying to decipher the Altean symbols that showcase the time. He groans while rolling out of bed, deciding to get up because within those four precious minutes of not being able to relax might knock his mood for the rest of the day with his stupid over-thinking mind. 

Walking out onto the bridge Lance was thankful he had decided to put his armor on instead of his casual clothing. His anxious state slowly eases upon seeing Hunk. He walks up to the Yellow Paladin with a skip in his step, his loud footsteps signaling for Hunk to turn around. 

His face lights up. “You’re earlier than usual!” He comments, engulfing Lance in a hug. He feels a surge of happy butterflies enter his chest from the warmth and love given by Hunk, relishing in the moment before Pidge disrupts them with a gasp and something along the lines of her being baffled and confused as to why Lance was here before her. The teen ignores her in favor of Hunk’s amazing hug.  

As soon as Allura walks through the doors with Stenton and Yuzurak and another seemingly higher-up soldier Lance feels his anxieties lift up from hibernation, pulling away from Hunk and standing in line with Pidge, Shiro, and Keith. Hunk follows suit.

“Paladins!” The Altean Princess announces, tucking away a strand of hair behind her elf-like ears. “Nice to see you’re all here on time.” Lance feels her eyes linger on him for a moment, and see’s Stenton smile behind her. Lance feels the need to grin back. “I’d like to introduce you to Commander Zaila.” The galra steps forward, small smile that show a not-so sharp row of teeth, and wine red hair tied up in a braid. 

“My name is Zaila. Third Commander of the 4th Division of The Blade of Marmora. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

It takes everything within Lance to not reply with a flirty comeback like, “The pleasure is all mine.” or “It’s a pleasure to meet me? It’s an absolute  _ pleasure _ to meet you.” As if Pidge could read his mind, she nudges him in the ribs scowling. Lance glares back.

“It’s nice to meet you Third Commander Zaila. I’m Shiro, Paladin of the Black Lion.” Lucky for Lance, even with his churning stomach, his introduction goes smoothly this time along with everyone else’s. Allura clasps her hands together with a smile. 

“Breakfast is waiting for your squadrons A and B in the dining hall. You may come eat with us if you’d like.”   
Stenton gives Yuzurak a nod, he takes his leave, walking past the Paladins and Lance swears he can  _ feel _ the intruding eyes scale his body as he walks by. He feels his hair stand on end, what he deciphers as fear whirling through his body. Something is going to happen today, and he doesn’t want to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to write Lance being so..anxious. It just kinda happened. Time to add another tag to the pile-


	3. Chapter 3

Breakfast goes by in a blur; Commander Stenton sitting with the Paladins while Zaila tagged along with Yuzurak to discuss matters within their squadrons. Lance was glad to have his breakfast not be disturbed by the intrusion of glowing yellow eyes and lingering stares. He felt relaxed, calm. His anxieties pushed down, being comfortable with everyone who was at the table.

 

Before leaving, Allura reminds everyone that training will commence around 8:30am, letting the Paladins food settle so they could train at their best without getting the stitch; which made Stenton lift a brow.

“Why do they have to wait in order to train?”

 

Pidge answers, adjusting her glasses, “Because humans have different bodily functions compared to Galra and Alteans. Alteans may be able to do physical activity after eating a large meal, but they become tired faster because their bodies haven’t absorbed the nutrients from the food yet. Galra on the other hand, your stomachs are able to store food; producing what is called an abdo-glan, being able to feed on that food later after doing physical activities so you don’t get cramps. And your metabolism breaks down your food faster in general. Human’s need to wait at least an hour, otherwise their bodies will protest and create what we call ‘the stitch’ where our food hasn’t been metabolised yet. Also-”

 

“Pidge.” Shiro chuckles, “I think that’s enough.” Stenton laughs.

 

“The amount of information you’ve stored is quite impressing, Green Paladin.”

 

The young teen grins, re-adjusting her glasses, “Pidge. You can call me Pidge, and thank you.”

 

Lance scratches his head in thought, realising just how different aliens are compared to humans. He never really thought about it much anymore; as he is around different species of aliens every other day.

 

“Ah, Yuzurak” Lance freezes, “Zaila! Thank you for bringing the plates back!” Coran bounces over to the pair, collecting plates from their hands and off the floating trays beside them.

 

“Well, it was the least I could do for arriving to this mission so late.” Zaila responds with a warm smile.

 

Allura returns Zaila’s _really pretty smile-_ “Oh nonsense, you don’t have to do that-”

 

“I’m just surprised you got Yuzurak to help.” Yuzurak, like every other time, gives a stoic stare.

 

Stenton shakes his head with a smile.

 

Lance panics as he sees Hunk about to stand from the corner of his eye, grabbing his wrist before he could even suggest taking everyones plates to the kitchen. He feels eyes glare at him for his action; becoming weary of Yuzurak’s stupid, continuous, objectifying stare.

“Meet me at the common room before heading to training?” Lance asks, leaning in to whisper into Hunks ear.

 

Lance deciphers confusion on his best friends face before nodding, obviously not wanting to question the younger teen about it now. Lance smiles, his gut rolling with anxiety, the tension in the air between him and Yuzurak feeling like it will reach its peak after today. The cuban teen shifts his gaze to the table, handing Hunk his plate.

 

_Everything will be fine._

 

____

 

Cleaning his room was the last thing on the teens mind; he decided since Pidge and Hunk were off gallivanting somewhere and couldn’t find the others, he would clean his room. Lance grumbles, trying to differentiate between the endless cleaning supplies sitting in a bucket on his bed. _If only I could find Coran to help meeeee._ In a complete state of not caring anymore, the young teen closes his eyes and picks up a bottle at random before grabbing a washcloth and setting to work.

 

“Paladins, training in five.” Allura’s voice booms through the comms. Lance groans. _Of course as soon as I do anything Allura has to request us._

 

A knock sounds at Lances door before it slides open, revealing a smiling Hunk. Lance questions him with a raised eyebrow.

 

“You asked me to meet you in the common room before training but you never showed up-”

 

_Oh._

 

“-so I thought I’d come to see if you were still here.”

 

“Sorry buddy, I forgot.”

 

“It’s okay-”

 

“Two minutes!” Allura yells over the comms.

 

“Fuck, that means everyone else is there.”

 

Hunk nods his head. “I don’t know about you but Allura’s pretty scary when she’s angry.”

Lance hums in agreement. “Yeah, she is pretty.”

 

“Not what I said-”

 

“One minute!!”

 

Without hesitation the teens bolt, sliding around every corner to get to the training room on time. Once making it through the sliding doors Lance comes to a halt, feeling everyone's eyes on him including _stupid yellow ones-_

 

“Shit-!”  

 

Lance feels the floor come in contact with his hands before his body hits the tiles; a loud thud echoing through the room as pain shoots up his side.

 

“OhmygodLanceI’msosorry-”

 

“Are you okay??”

 

“Oh gosh-”

 

“Lance?”

 

Lance groans in response, clenching his eyes shut in hopes it’d help the pain subside. It doesn’t.

 

“You’re not dead are you?!” Hunk asks frantically. The fallen Paladin opens his eyes slowly to see Hunk freaking out, looking to Coran. “He’s not dead is he?!”

 

He chuckles at Hunk’s question. “I’m fine Hunk, don’t worry about it.”

 

“Do you need help getting up my boy?” Coran asks, placing an arm around his shoulders to try help. Lance waves him off, but Coran doesn’t budge and helps him sit up anyways. He tries to fight off a wince as pain spreads across his side.

“I’m fine Coran, honestly.”

 

A metal hand is placed in front of Lance’s face. He finds his eyes traveling from the hand, up the arm, and into the brown eyes of Shiro. The Black Paladin grins.

 

“At least you were here on time.”

 

Pidge cackles, “Yeah, with 10 seconds to spare.”

 

He hears Hunk murmur something along the lines of “Thank god.” Lance chuckles at Hunk. Finding a firm grip on Shiro’s cold hand, wind gushes past his face as he stands up on wobbly feet.

 

Stabilizing himself and fighting off another wince, the teen grins at everyone,

“Let the training commence!”

 

____

 

Lance found himself ...in a predicament, to say the least. Shiro had decided to pair up Zaila with Hunk, seeing as they were both about the same width, to do some hand-to-hand combat. Pidge was put with Stenton to test her strength, Keith with Allura, and Shiro would swap with others from time-to-time leaving Lance paired up with...Yuzurak. _Of course._

 

The cuban teen feels anxiety do backflips in his stomach while looking into the face of Yuzurak, wondering who’s gonna strike first.

 

Lance feels a gaze on him and he looks to his right to come eye-to-eye with Shiro. Even more anxiety fills him up at the feeling of being judged by the Black Paladin.

 

Yuzurak takes Lances distraction as a head start, running straight at him with a fist raised.

 

Lance turns his head just in time to block the galra’s punch, but not his surprise kick, sending the boy flying shoulders-first into the floor and coughing up saliva.

 

A flurry of pain spreads through Lances shoulders accompanied by the feeling of Yuzuraks stare, accidentally making eye contact Lance feels...unnerved at the glint in his eyes as he lays on the cold floor, body once again sprawled in front of the galra’s wandering gaze.

 

“Don’t get distracted Lance!” Shiro repremends. Lance scoffs at Shiro’s, he’ll admit, true accusation.

 

“Not planning on it!” The teen gives his hands a shake, as if that’d help rid the anxiety eating away within his body.

 

_Everything will be fine._

 

______

 

“Hey, you okay?” Lance freezes, turning around to find Keith with his arms crossed and a concerned frown set on his _perfect lips-_

 

“Hello?”

 

“Ah-a yes! I’m fine!” Lance chokes out, his heartbeat becoming hysterical at the thought of Keith worrying about him. “Why..?”

 

“You took a nasty fall when Hunk bawled you over.”

 

 _Blunt, as always._ Lance waves his hand, feeling a smirk tug at his lips. “Aw, Keith. Aren’t you just a-”

 

Keith sighs loudly, shaking his head and cutting Lance off, “Lance...I was just making sure you were alright.”

 

Lances eyes widen in shock, amazed at Keith’s lack of retaliation. “Anyway, good work today. Lunch is at 1.”

 

Lance smiles at Keith’s retreating figure, his heart pumping too quickly to his liking as he feels blood rush to his face. He watches intently as Keith walks out the doors of the training room and sighs, warmth flowing through his body _because Keith talked to him and he could fly through the clouds if he wished because god damn, Keith is here and everything is going to be fine_.

 

The giddy teen twirls around, expecting to find Hunk or Pidge behind him but his find becomes empty, staring into the open space of the training room. Of course they walked out without him, it’s not like he ever asked for them to wait for him…

 

With a pout he walks the small distance from the center of the room to the doors, turning around for one final check over that he hadn’t forgotten anything before waltzing out the sliding doors, his steps holding more of a skip than usual. _Maybe I could go bug Pidge for the next hour…_

Changing his course of direction from right to left, he makes his way down the less-used corridors to the Green Paladins room, knowing she uses these halls more often so to not walk into any guests whenever they come on board the Altean spacecraft. Lance smirks in remembrance of the young girls awkward encounters with guests who’ve stayed on the ship, completely lost in thought _about that one time-_

 

Shivers roll down Lances spine, distracting his little day dream. Anxiety slowly closes in on him, turning his head hesitantly behind him to scope out his surroundings.

 

Nothing.

 

He sighs, chuckling lightly at _how stupid-_

 

A cold hand, much larger than his own, grabs Lances wrist causing the Red Paladin to jump; his heart leaping out of his throat when his eyes land on piercing yellow.

 

Just as quickly as he felt the hand grab his wrist, his back slams against the castle ship walls. He whimpers as pain shoots through his shoulders. With wrists pinned beside his head Lance starts to panic, not daring to look up at his captor.

 

“Aw, why won’t you look at me?”  

 

Lance jumps, another cold hand pulling his chin up to stare into Yuzurak’s eyes. The teen freezes, yellow eyes causing the situation to catch up with him - the added addition of the teasing tone in the galra’s voice making Lance shake.

 

He attempts to pull his hand away from Yuzurak’s grasp, “L-Let go-” He closes his mouth abruptly, cursing himself for sounding so pathetic.

 

The Galra chuckles. Lance whimpers, feeling a small bruise form on the underside of his chin. The longer the silence gos on for, just staring at one another, the more anxiety that courses through the teens body. The more anxiety that courses through his body, the more his mind won’t let him think straight, and the more he can’t think straight the more the poor teen panics.

 

The small smile that forms across Yuzuraks face scares Lance half to death, his expression holding anything but stoic. He feels eyes scan his face before they agonizingly slowly travel down the young teens body and back up, causing Lances breath to hitch in his throat, his jacket suddenly feeling too itchy and hot to wear.

 

Yuzurak sighs and let’s Lance go, his feet giving up on him and letting the rest of his body fall to the floor with a yelp.

 

“Next time, at least try.” Lance chokes back a sob, a snicker following after as the Galra’s footsteps become fainter.

 

He gasps for breath, hands tugging at his hair in an attempt to get a grasp on the fact that this is reality and that, whatever the fuck that was, just happened.

 

Helplessly he decides that he doesn’t have the energy to get up.

 

______

 

Keith looks around the table as Coran starts collecting everyone's plates. He glares at the table, as if it was all the inanimate objects fault, confused as to why Lance never showed up to lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeet or be yeeted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter

Lance always has dreams. He considers himself a lucid dreamer; being able to come to the realisation he’s in a whole new playing field of a different realm of consciousness and manipulate how the dream would turn out. Usually ending up with him having the capability to fly, having some secret super powers, being an undercover spy, going home to see his family...that one always leaves him waking up in tears.

 

When Lance woke up he was surprised when he didn’t recall any odd memories from his unconscious state of mind. One look at his dream journal beside his pillow after lazily taking off his eye mask, a white blank page staring up at him, he knew he definitely didn’t dream. Which was a strange concept to him since being out in the vastness of space.

 

The teen turns back around, staring into his room.  _ What time was it? _ He doesn’t bother checking; his motivation dimming out before he even felt it in the first place. He sighs, a yawn escaping his lips. Wiping his eyes, he finds his body in a comfier position than when he went to bed and snuggles further into his pillow, deciding that  _ maybe sleeping for- _

 

BEEEP BEEEP--  _ no, please- _ BEEEP BEEEP--  _ just one more minute- _ BEEEP--

 

“Oh for fucks sake-”

 

“Good morning Paladins!” Lance groans in disapproval, Allura’s voice is pretty, but this early in the morning? No one’s voice is pretty. “Hope you all slept well! Training before breakfast for Hunk and then Shiro. After will be Keith then Pidge. Before dinner Lance. Remember your schedules for today.”  _...schedules? _ “Lance please meet Coran in the medical bay for your schedule.” 

 

The speakers turn off, Lances ears focusing back onto the irritating beeping coming from the Altean-equivalent of an alarm clock that honestly looks like it shouldn’t even be a clock of all things-

 

A smirk wraps itself around Lances features at the mere indecently hilarious thought.  _ Stupid elongated stick thing-  _

 

“Hey buddy, mind turning off the alarm?” 

 

“Sorry Hunk!” The teen shouts back, feeling colour fill his cheeks.  _ Luckily humans can’t read minds. _ Lance muses. _ That’d be embarrassing. _

 

He hears Hunks loud yawn through the door. “It’s okay dude.” Nothing more is said between the duo, their minds too tired to create an active conversation. 

 

Shuffling from his side to his back a jolt of pain slivers through Lances shoulders, causing him to groan in protest. Quickly shoving himself back onto his side he becomes confused, too groggy and unmotivated to become a detective and figure out what’s causing his pain. He lets his head sink further into the pillow, eyes fluttering closed as the conscious land starts to fade-

 

“Lance please make your way to the med bay for your schedule, Coran is waiting for you.”

 

He groans again, this time in distaste at the thought of getting out of his warm, comfy, anxiety ridden confinement and into the cold dark abyss of the outside land. 

 

Aka outside of his bed.

 

His warm place, safe haven, absolutely soft-

 

“Lance Mcclain if you do not meet Coran within five doboshes I will get Shiro on your case.” 

 

The teen yawns, slowly lifting the covers from his body and letting the cool air rush to his skin causing him to shiver. He honestly didn’t mind if Shiro did come to him, but being pestered this early in the morning? Lance shakes his head.  _ No thanks. _

 

With a hefty thump the Red Paladin makes his way over to the bathroom to clean the mask off his face, the fresh cucumber scent running down the triangular drain. When looking in the mirror he was expecting to see his dark skin, no bumps or blemishes, or any trace of anything that he deemed unpresentable on his face.

 

But to his shock he found a bruise.

 

A bruise that looked so...off. It started from the underside of his jaw to the tip of his chin. With a furrowed brow he lifts his chin up slightly higher and almost chokes on his saliva. A sudden wave of anxiety knocking down his pretty alright mood.

 

A bruise in the shape of fingerprints had left a harsh mark upon his skin.

 

He blinks his eyes twice, three times trying to convince himself that he was still in bed dreaming - still within the warm confinements of his bedsheets. 

 

Taking a step forward to examine the mark and pinch his cheeks he realizes far too quickly that he is in fact not dreaming. He takes a step back as if it’d create distance between himself and the purple bruise; yelping from the contact of the shower door banging into his shoulder. 

 

As if it’d help ease the pain he wraps his arm around his body to come into contact with his shoulder and winces, turning his body in the mirror, eyes still fixated on his jaw before they fall down to his shoulder blades, pulling the fabric down to find another bruise dancing through his scar from the explosion when the castle was still stagnant.

 

Which makes what happened last night  _ even more real _ .

 

He feels anxiety trying to breach his throat. Trying to force his breathing to stop becoming hysterical and to just breathe normally, he begins to count his breathing. 

 

_ Of course last night was real. There was nothing written in my dream journal.  _

 

Nothing. 

 

Absolutely nothing. 

 

Counting he decides doesn’t work; humming a small tune that was long enough to breathe in and out seemed to make more of a difference to his anxieties, although it wasn’t forcing them away forever like he  _ fucking hoped. _

 

He closes his eyes, tune coming to an end as he contemplates what to do.  _ I could talk to Shiro or Hunk...but would they believe me? No, Shiro is off the list. _ If he knew anything about Lance liking the same gender he’d let the airlock drag him out into space.

 

Although that didn’t seem like too bad of an idea in that moment.

 

_ No. Thinking like this while emotional is how I ended up almost killing myself last time. _

 

The cuban teen drags his hand through his hair, as if it’d help at all.  _ Hunk will say ‘I told you so.’  _ Lance clenches his teeth. _ I don’t wanna put Hunk through this... _

 

Pulling at his hair Lance decides to keep this little bump in the road quiet for now, opting that the almighty being out there that’s causing his constant distress will feel sorry for him and leave him alone.

 

He shakes his hands free from his hair before carrying on with the rest of his skincare routine. A therapeutic ritual that calms him down; letting him daze through it. 

 

It doesn’t last long before his mind juggles his thoughts around again, reminding him that he’ll have to stare into Yuzuraks yellow eyes again at some point today. The teen shivers.

 

A loud, angry knock literally knocks him from his thought train, falling back into reality.

 

“LANCE I SWEAR IF YOU MAKE ALLURA YELL ANYMORE-”

 

He drops his moisturizer, letting out a curse. “PIDGE-”

 

“-I’LL REVOKE THE ROBOTICS WAR WITH HUNK AND W I N B A C K M Y C O N S O L E .”  

 

_________

 

Receiving his schedule from Coran was a...time. Good or bad? Lance couldn’t pinpoint between being stuck in one of the older Alteans stories that he had already heard before and learning that him and King Alfor, back when he was a Prince, would sneak into the lady maids headquarters for fun before being ratted out by one of the younger maids, who then Lance found out, turned out to be Allura’s mother through a lot of determination from King Alfor’s behalf. 

 

But he also still didn’t understand what the heck was happening with the mission.

 

Lance squints his eyes down at the Altean print as if it’d make the english translations easier to read. Frustration courses through him until a presence enters his mind.  _ Red. _ The teen immediately feels a content warmth spread through his soul; still not entirely use to it when compared to Blue’s cooling affect. 

 

_ What’s up, Red? _

 

He feels an urge to look back down at the paper and complies, his eyes adjusting to the fine Altean print that was now not so poorly written into English. 

 

He still felt a bit confused with some words as English is only his second language after all. He smiles nonetheless, Red’s thoughtfulness making him feel so much better. 

 

_ Thanks girl.   _

 

Just as quickly as the warm presence came, it disappeared; leaving a small warmth trail encase he needed the lions help once again.

 

Staring intently at the paper he realizes the word he’s been trying to figure out is detect and immediately feels stupid. 

 

“Detecting whether or not the base holds...the fuck?” The teen questions, scratching his head. “Ima..stan-ite?” He sighs. _ I need to find Hunk.  _

 

“Oh, hello Red Paladin.” Said teen freezes from the sudden voice, turning his body swiftly to find Zaila waving with a wide smile.

 

“H-Hey Zaila.” The Galran woman stops a few feet in front of Lance, looking down at the Paladin while still tying her long red hair up in a braid. 

 

“You manage to get todays schedule alright?”

 

“Yeah. How did you know-”

 

A devilish smile makes itself known before cutting him off, “Allura needed someone to vent to, and I was the unfortunate soul - don’t tell her I said that!” 

 

_ Since when did Allura and Zaila become...such good friends? _

 

Lance laughs, “Once she rants to you you’ll be her go-to person ya know.”

 

“Oh no-”

 

“I’m glad Coran will finally get a break.” 

 

“At least I’m letting someone rest while suffering.” Zaila replies with a smile, “Anyway, what are you doing?” 

 

“I’m looking for Hunk.” the Galra squints her eyes in confusion. “The Yellow Paladin.” 

 

“Uh-huh! That’s right. I’m trying to remember all your names - they’re all so…”

 

“...weird?”

 

“Exactly. Weird and hard to remember. Except Shiro.” Zaila leans in, flitting her hair behind her back. The teens breath hitches in his throat, feeling a small surge of panic infiltrate his system from the sudden movement. 

 

“Because in Galran, Shiro means potato snake.”

 

Lance just stares at Zaila, Zaila copying his mechanisms. Silence engulfs the air, and at this moment the Red Paladin realizes the Galrans quite human-like eyes. How her nose is slightly slanted outwards and how her teeth aren’t sharp unlike the other Galra Lance has met. They seemed almost...human. 

Zaila’s smile widens as Lance finally comes to terms with what the alien had said, seeing his mind work it’s gears before heaving out a wheeze of laughter. 

 

“Potato snake, it means potato snake?! Oh my god!” 

 

They both stumble in an attempt to keep eachother standing upright from laughing so hard. Lance clinging onto Zaila for support while Zaila almost trips, causing Lance to go down instead. 

 

Zaila curses in Galran; the translators the lions use unable to detect the words flying out of the Galra’s mouth.   

 

Lance lands on his knees, trying his best to calm down before Zaila helps him stand, small chuckles being shared between the two. 

 

“I am-”  _ wheezes _ “-so sorry.”

 

“It’s fine, honestly I-”  _ wheeze  _

 

“You need to find Hunk-”

 

“Yes, I need to find Hunk-”

 

When they wheeze at the same time Lance couldn’t help but wheeze again which wasn’t the best for Zaila’s lungs as she chokes on her saliva and begins a coughing fit.

 

“Oh my god are-”

 

_ Wheeze  _ “I am-”  _ cough cough _ “I am fine-”

 

“Commander Zaila.”

 

A cold shiver runs down the teens spine, his laughter falling short alwhile Zaila tries to compel her chuckles before turning around to face Yuzraks stoic stare. 

 

“Yeah?” She bumbles over. Lance had to stop himself from grabbing Zaila’s hand to pull her away from the other Galra.  

 

“I need to talk to you.” Yuzurak looks over Zaila’s shoulder and at Lance, causing the boy to immediately look away. “Alone.”

 

Lance takes that as his opportunity to leave; not even bothering to say a proper goodbye to Zaila as he speed-walks down the hall, feeling eyes trail down his body once again. 

 

He ignores the feel of the Galra’s stare, it becoming his main mission to find Hunk while keeping in the back of his mind to apologize to Zaila later. 

 

_________

 

“Hey Hunk!” Lance yells, waltzing through his sliding doors, his eyes landing upon a frantic Hunk. The teen shrugs it off, opting to go lie down on his best friends bed. The Yellow Paladin turns around eyes blown wide.

 

“I can’t find my chest plate.”

 

“....what?”

 

“My chest plate! I can’t find it!” 

 

“Oh, your armor!” 

 

“Yes my armor, now help me find it.” Lance lifts an eyebrow at Hunk, “Please.”

 

Lance complies, jumping up and ducking down to look underneath Hunk’s bed. The younger teen feels Hunks worry radiate off of him in waves from the other side of the room in turn causing Lance’s anxiety to spike.

 

“Soooooo….I ran into Zaila.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“She seems pretty nice. Quite blunt though. Kinda funny in her own weird way.”

 

“Cool.”

 

“I was wondering if you could help me look through the schedule? And about the mi-”

 

“Have you checked under the bed?” Hunk looks up at Lance who’s standing beside him, Lance looking down confused at Hunk as to how he got to beside his friend. He swears he was checking under the bed a second ago-

 

“Y-Yeah I did. Sorry dude, I think I spaced out.” The teen runs his hand through his hair, “Anyway, about the mission I was wondering-”

 

“Found it!” Lance cheers, disregarding Hunk’s obliviousness to Lances question.

 

“Oh no! I’m late!” 

Lance chuckles, “You’re gonna be fine Hunk-”

 

“Allura’s gonna tell Shiro and Shiro’s gonna tell Pidge and- oh no no no no…”

 

“.....huh?”

 

“Pidge is gonna cook dinner!”

 

“What? Why?-”

 

“She’s not allowed in my kitchen-”

 

“Hunk I’m so confused-”

 

“Gotta go, I’m so sorry Lance!” The Yellow Paladin gives the smaller teen a side hug before disappearing through the bedroom door.

 

_ Well so much for that. _

  
  
  


It was only Pidge, Keith, and Coran who were seated at the table for breakfast to Lances surprise. Upon seeing Lance enter, Coran slides over a bowl filled to the brim with goo. The teen sighs. 

 

“Here you are mah boy, we’ve got a big day ahead of us!”

 

“Every day is a big day to you Coran.” Pidge mutters.

 

Lance chuckles, thanking Coran and earning a smile from the moustached man in turn.

 

The Red Paladin spent his time after breakfast floating around. He tried to help Coran and Pidge with one of the Altean screens, but decided he really couldn’t be bothered sitting through a bunch of numbers being recited to him. He guessed Hunk’s training was prolonged to be with Shiro while Allura trained them, as none of them were in the kitchen when he walked past. He had no clue where on Earth Zaila was because he’ll admit - she was quite a character. Stenton? Not really someone Lance could ‘hang out’ with. Yuzurak was a no-go. Lance felt a shiver cascade down his spine just thinking about that weirdo Galra. He needed someone who he was comfortable enough with to ask about the mission as well as just being able to fuck around with them.

 

He shortly realised his only option left was Keith. Not that that was a bad thing. Lance just didn’t really know how to talk to him anymore. The teen pouts.  _ Maybe I should try mending our friendship.. _

 

Keith had disappeared after Breakfast, like he usually does after every single meal. It’s like he’s magic and just poofs away whenever he pleases. Lance chuckles, imagining Keith in a wizard hat and a wand, whisking himself away~

 

After his daydreaming; Lance finds himself at his room before turning around and stepping up to Keith’s rooms door, his knocks not being answered. Lance sighs, his feet dragging him to check the common room, the castle’s lounge, and rounding himself back up to the kitchen again before heading to the bridge.

 

The teen groans upon finding Pidge, Coran, and Shiro at the bridge but no stupid Keith.

 

Shiro raises his eyebrow, Pidge cutting him off.

 

“Shhhh Lance we’re concentrating.”

 

To further his statement of annoyance the Red Paladin groans louder, making sure the door slams shut behind him - hearing Pidges muffled curses the highlight of Lances morning so far. 

 

Lance decides to check the training room. Why the fuck didn’t he think of that in the first place? He lets out a long breath, contemplating what he’s going to say once he finds the stupid mullet-head.

 

_ Talk to him about my side of the mission as if I know what’s going on, then slowly ask more questions until I actually do know what’s going on. Wham bam thank you m’am. _ Lance clasps his hands together, anxiety deeming it the perfect time to fuck up his thought process.  _ Would Keith even buy my lying? Could I really lie to Keith? What am I gonna talk about? How’m I gonna break the ice? Oh no whatifitallgoestoshit- _

 

Lance stops at the training doors, hoping to god or some almighty being out there that Keith is in the stupid training room-

 

A step and a look around the training room almost had Lance nope the fuck out immediately; until Yuzurak noticed him, his face stoic as always.

“Why don’t you come train with me?” 

 

Anxiety fills him to the brim. Not use to hearing the Galrans voice he comes to a complete standstill. Luckily, Lances quick reactions to social situations save him and he puts on a giant smile, slowly inching back through the door.

 

“Haha, I’m sorry! I’m busy right now so-” 

 

“Lance..” The cuban whips his head around to meet Allura’s raised brows, staring him down with a look that could kill. “Go” 

 

“No but you see I’m looking for Keith-”

 

“Lance, don’t you remember the group discussion? We need this alliance with the Blade.” 

 

“But Allura-” A wave of Allura’s hand and a look of comfort is thrown Lances way. “I’m sorry Lance, but we need to keep them happy. They are our guests, and they’re going on a mission soon. One that could cost the whole division their lives. Please, play nice. We need this alliance.” 

 

A wave of emotions overflow Lance. Anxiety, frustration, and fear. An overwhelming amount of fear. He sighs lightly before plastering a smile onto his features, burying his anxieties down.

 

“Of course Princess. But if you see Keith tell him I need to speak with him.”

 

“I will.” The Princess smiles and turns away, her flowing hair trailing behind her. Lance clenches his fists before turning around to see Yuzurak staring at him, ignoring Yuzuraks look, Lance gulps, “Well, what are we standing around for? We have a drone to battle!” Lance marches in, determination that whatever happened with Yuzurak yesterday was behind them.

 

Lance gets into his battle armour and walks back into the arena where Yuzurak is in the middle of fighting. A hit to the stomach sends the drone flying and falling into the floor for repairs.

 

With his singular fist.

 

_ Fuck. _

 

A throaty chuckle emittes throughout the room. “It took you long enough to get ready, what are you going to do when it’s an emergency?” 

 

Confused at Yuzurak’s sudden burst in conversation, Lance replies. “Trust me, I get ready a lot faster when it’s an emergency.”

 

“And training with me isn’t an emergency?”

 

Lance feels all the colour drain from his face.  _ What? Is this banter?? What happened to Yuzurak- _

 

“Oh lighten up red paladin, or should I call you ...Lance?” 

Lance bites back a grimace, hearing his own name from the galra’s mouth sends a wave of anxiousness swirling around his gut and shivers.

 

He pushes it to the back of his mind and offers a smile instead.

“It’s weird. You’re not this...friendly with the others. Or at all for that matter.”

The galra chuckles again. “Well, the others didn’t catch my attention.” 

 

If that’s not warning bells ringing in Lances head, then he doesn’t know what is. Fear reaches his heart.  _ I need to leave. _

 

“Okay, well..” He tries to change the topic, “Let’s get to fighting that drone! Haha..” 

 

Yuzurak looks the smaller boy up and down for a second before sinister smile spreads across his features. The cuban takes it as a encouraging smile before the words come out of Yuzuraks mouth.

 

“I was thinking more of...hand to hand combat.” 

 

Lances blood runs cold as he drops his bayard.

 

“H-Hand to hand combat? I don’t-” 

 

The galra takes a few steps towards Lance and grips the bit if flesh and fabric between his neck and shoulder, staring into the teens blue eyes.

 

“Hand to hand combat. It’d be good for you to...get your hands on a galra.”

 

_ You mean for you to get your hands all over me.  _ Lance shakes his head, bending down to grab his bayard.  _ Stop thinking like that. Everything will be fine. _

 

“I already have enough experience with fighting galra. Why don’t we-”

 

The hand between Lances shoulder and neck tightens and Lance whimpers, stopping from reaching forward. Unbeknownst to Lance, Yuzurak licks his lips.

 

“This may help with your combat work. You are a long distance fighter, are you not?”

 

“Yes well-”

 

“Well, I’ve looked through everyone's combat analysis and yours seem to be the lowest.”

 

Lances blood starts to boil and he breathes in slowly. He lets out a small puff of laughter to conceal his growing anger. “I’m working on that. You see, my bayard has upgraded to an Altean broadsword. I’m still able to access my long distance range gun though. I haven’t had much time to work on my combat with all the small lone missions I’ve been sent on.”

 

“Small lone missions?”

 

“Yeah, small lone-”

 

“In the division we send people on small lone missions when we want to get rid of them.”

 

Lance’s breath hitches in his throat. “Wha-”

 

“It must be different for your species and Alteans. Seems rather odd to me.”

 

The cuban looks down at the tiled castle floor, his bayard coming into view. Sandicavya, Wolwaiota, Capleom. _ Of course. That makes so much sense. I should’ve done it. I should’ve just ended it- _

 

A smack to the shoulder of his armour sends Lance flying back into reality. 

“C’mon, hand to hand combat. We don’t have all day.” 

 

“Hold on a tic-”

 

Before Lance had time to finish his sentence, Yuzurak picks up Lances bayard. “You’re gonna need this.” And walks to the other side of the arena. 

 

Lance shakes his head.  _ I need to stop thinking about it.  _ The smaller boy gets into his battle stance, bringing his Altean sword forward. Yuzurak complies with a whip in one hand and a dagger in the other, the galra symbols on both handles glowing as they enlarge. Lances eyes widen.

 

“Hold on a second-”

 

Yuzurak ignores Lance, running forward to try get the first hit. Lance dodges the whip, rolling and slashing his sword, the blade not coming into contact with anything. Yuzurak chuckles, making Lance grow a little more angry with each thrust of his sword that was dodged, slowly becoming more reckless. 

 

“First of all, you need to have a firmer grip.” The galra takes a swing at Lance with his enlarged dagger, the sharp blade missing Lances face by a centimetre. He forgot to put his helmet on. 

 

_ Shit. _

Lances slashes the long blade, it nicking the underside of Yuzuraks armour. “Secondly, your slashes need more control. You need to hold the hilt with both hands.”

 

In a small fit of rage, the cuban runs at Yuzurak, sword tilted to a degree that could catch the galra if he didn’t dodge in time.

 

“And thirdly..” Yuzurak jumps over Lance, making Lance stunned at the height the galra managed to jumped at. “Your stance is wrong.”

 

Before Lance could whip his body around to have another go at Yuzurak, a small sting of cold metal is placed firmly against the side of Lances neck. His stomach coiling together, Lances hair stands on end as he tries to take control of the situation with his words.

 

“I’m not good now but-”

 

A kick to the shins sends Lance flying forwards, his hands about to catch his fall until Yuzurak kicks him onto his back before coming into contact with the floor. The galra places his whip firmly into his pocket and brings the dagger up to Lances neck, the blade growing into a small sword rather than a large dagger. 

 

“Imagine if I had pulled out the larger blade of the dagger while still in combat. You would’ve been taken by surprise. You need to take note of your opponent's weapon, and take into consideration their ability before going in guns blazing.” 

 

Lance nods his head about to speak, Yuzuraks eyes meeting his. The galra’s odd expression sends Lance into a panic.

“Thank you, I’ll take your words into- ah!” 

 

In a sudden movement, Yuzurak straddles Lance, pinning the cubans arms above his head and pushing his bayard away. Fear eats away at him.

“Woah, at least take me to dinner first-”

 

“Shut up.” Yuzurak growls as Lances feels a hand touch his stomach and slowly move down to his lower regions where he lacks armour. The smaller boy struggles against Yuzuraks firm grip, his body becoming hot from the sudden turn of events.

 

“Stop!” 

 

“You weren’t this vocal last time, what’s suddenly gotten into you?” The galra’s hand feels Lance up and down where armour lacks, leading to his groin. 

 

“You didn’t do this much last- Stop!” Yuzurak ignores Lances pleas until a sudden name catches his attention.

 

“-and Keith will hate you if you don’t stop!” The boy struggles more, one of his hands managing to get free as he tries his best to push away the assaulter. Yuzurak chuckles in response, causing Lances hair to stand on end.

 

“Oh  _ Lance _ , how foolish of you. He won’t find out. Now shut up, I don’t have much time.”

 

The cuban pushes against Yuzuraks frame harder, adrenaline pumping through his veins, but his attempt failing as in a split second both his hands are tied down by Yuzuraks other hand again. 

 

_ This can’t be happening this can’t be happening this can’t be- _

 

“HELP! SOMEONE HELP! YUZURAK-” 

 

The hand that was feeling the young teens body is over Lances mouth within a second, silencing his call for help. The red paladin chokes back a sob.  

 

“Quiet! You don’t want anyone to see you like this, do you?” Lance shakes his head. He should’ve thought that through. “Good. They’d think you initiated it anyway, with all your goddamn flirting.” 

 

He lets out a whimper as Yuzurak touches his lower region.

 

_ He’s stronger than me.. _ Lance tries to wriggle his body out from under the galra, he smirks in return, making eye contact that makes Lance shake in fear, feeling anxiety fill his lungs.  

 

The hunger in the galras eyes is what makes Lance look away immediately, his lustful expression forever haunting Lances mind.  _ I can’t let him- _

 

“Get off me!” The doors leading to the training room sweep open, and Lance is surprised by how quickly Yuzurak plays off the situation. 

 

“And that, red paladin, is why you need to work on your stance when holding a sword. Otherwise you’ll be completely thrown off balance.” The galra calmly gets up and off of Lance, leaving him on the cold floor in shock.

 

“Oh! Sorry to run in on ya training! I came to check the wires for the invisible maze. I thought that maybe teaching the 4th division that teamwork game might help with their mission!” 

 

_ Thank you, thank you so much Coran. Holy shit I love you. _

 

“No no no! It’s fine Coran! We were just-” Yuzuraks hand waving the dagger around behind his back catches Lances attention and he gulps, not quite knowing the galras intentions and fearing the worst.

 

“I was just about to run off any way.  I’ve got a mullet head to find, he’s very hard to find these days!” Lance laughs in an attempt to laugh away his anxiety. Coran laughs too, for a completely different reason.

 

“Ah yes, he keeps getting lost in the castle since he hasn’t been back in a while! He’s quite impatient he is.” 

 

“Oh my god. I’ll be sure to use that against him. Thanks Coran!” 

 

With a swoop of his hands, Lance grabs his bayard and runs out the door past Coran. Wanting to run far far away from what just happened. From the castle. He just wants to go home. Another thought enters his mind. 

 

He has to tell Hunk.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never said I was nice ;^) 
> 
> It's been a hot minute, hasn't it?

Lance couldn’t focus during his one-on-one training with Allura; too traumatized by the events that took place within the training room a few hours beforehand. Allura took it as the teen being distracted by her and grew aggravated, Shiro leaving Stenton and taking the princesses place to train Lance instead. 

 

Needless to say, Lance felt annoying.

 

The younger teen wipes the sweat from his brow after taking his helmet off, Shiro walking over with a warm smile. “Good work today Lance, you’ll definitely be going up the stats at this rate.” 

Excitement and pride swell through Lances being, causing him to smirk in return, “Well you know the sharpshooter, always doing his best no matter what.”

 

_ That was a fucking lie. _

 

Shiro chuckles, bringing his arm up to pat the teens shoulder. The sudden movement of Shiro’s hand lowkey freaking out the younger paladin. “I’m glad you’re always doing your best, Lance.”

 

Lance smiles as they walk to the training rooms doors, gathering up their clothing in the process. The teen feels anxiety claw at his gut as they part ways; Shiro opting to go find Allura while Lance turns left to his room in order to get dressed out of his armor. Lance never really liked using the changing rooms in the training room, they reminded him of the haunted bathrooms back at his primary school before attending the Garrison. 

 

Lance shivers  _ god those bathrooms were terrifying-  _

 

Just like it’s terrifying wondering these corridors. Alone. Anyone could grab at Lance at any moment. The teen decides to pick up the pace; feeling his hair stand on end as the thought of Yuzurak catching him enters his mind.

 

He lets out a short sigh upon arriving to his room. He never found Hunk or Keith in the end. He hasn’t seen Keith since breakfast or Hunk since he bolted off after finding his armor. Lance has been cooped up in his room after the training room incident, fearing the worst upon walking out of his bedroom doors. 

 

After throwing off his armor the teen flops on his bed, the comforting soft blankets easing his anxieties a little. 

 

Lance didn’t even attempt to attend Lunch. The thought of having to sit in the same room as Yuzurak sending his anxious mind sky rocketing to the point the poor teen couldn’t stop thinking of all the bad possibilities that could go down; his breathing becoming laboured and running his hands through his hair until he felt it become greasy and gross. 

 

“Guessss whoooo!”

 

A jolt of adrenaline courses through Lance as the elevating door rams open a little too fast and a rampaging Pidge enters the room with a disappointed Hunk in tow. 

 

“What the-”

 

“Hand it over.” 

 

The teen gives a confused eyebrow raise in response. Hunk sighs.

“I lost.”

 

“You got that right!” Pidge smirks, waltzing further into the room. “Now hand it over!”

 

It takes a while for the gears to click in Lances mind. The sadness in Hunks face, the triumphant stance Pidge is highlighting with her victory smirk- 

 

_ The console. _

 

“Wait, what? No!” 

 

The youngest teens smirk morphs into an evil smile once the words leave Lances mouth. “If you don’t hand it over I will make sure Allura knows every one of your precious secrets.” 

 

The cuban feels all the colour drain from his face. 

 

“Pidge-”

 

“Hold on, wait wait wait wait…” Lance jumps up, walking towards the gremlin, “Explanation? Some backstory?” He looks over Pidges shoulder at Hunk with ease, making sure to make a show of it, “Please?” 

 

Pidge glares at the teasing brunette before stepping aside to let Hunk into Lances room to explain further.

 

“Well...I was late to training.”

 

“Five minutes late.” Pidge receives a look from both Paladins before Hunk continues. 

 

“Which meant she would be the one to cook dinner.”  _ So I did hear Hunk right. _ “But it’s my kitchen! No one is allowed in my kitchen!” Before the Yellow Paladin could rant about his kitchen for any longer Lance walks towards Hunk, patting him on the shoulder to show support. Hunk continues, “So I asked to revoke the robot battle-”

 

The Green Paladin cackles, “I added a little twist to it.”

 

“And if she won she’d have full rights to her console again and have my permission to cook dinner.”  

 

“And he lost.”

 

“And I...lost.”

 

Lance sighs, letting Pidge pass by him to start unplugging the console. “You never let us play when you have full rights to it!” Lance whines, Hunk nodding his head vigorously in agreement. 

 

“Yet when I win it everyone is allowed to play.” 

 

Pidge shrugs her shoulders, somehow managing to fit everything into her small arms. “Ya snooze ya lose.”

 

Lance turns, standing in the doorway with Hunk creating a barrier. “Can’t we just keep it in my room? Then everyone can be happy!” 

 

Silence engulfs the trio; Hunk and Lances pleading eyes having no effect on the youngest as she successfully pushes past the duo. 

 

“Gremlin.”

 

The small teen stops dead in her tracks.

 

“...what?”

 

Lance feels a wave of anxiety course through his entire body; fearing that he had actually hurt Pidges feelings instead of trying to squeeze some teasing out of her before she left. The cuban takes a step forward while crossing his arms, deciding that it was too late to back down now. 

 

“You heard me.” 

 

Lance feels a tug on his jacket, turning around to see Hunks pleading eyes.  

 

“There will be a team meeting in-”

 

“Not now Keith.” Lance grumbles.

 

Keith tilts his head to the side, furrowing his brows in confusion; Lance swears he can feel his heart soar at the sight.

 

“Well, looks like it’s happening again.” Pidge smirks. “But it’s an action movie this time.” 

 

With one step for Pidge and one giant leap for Pidge-kind she makes a run for it, console in hand yelling something about them hoping to enjoy dinner. 

 

Lance groans simultaneously with Hunk, feeling his adrenaline subside.

 

“What-” Keith shakes his head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. There will be a meeting just before dinner in the training room.” Lance feels his hair stand on end from the mere mention of that god forsaken room. “Don’t be late.” 

 

Lance catches Keith’s slight amused smile as he turns around and out the door. The cuban cackles. 

 

“I think we just made Keith’s day.”

 

“Or ruined it completely- Pidge is cooking dinner remember!?” 

 

He goes to sit on his bed, motioning for Hunk to join him; patting his shoulder once he’s settled. “Everything will turn out fine Hunk! Who knows; maybe Pidge has some wack secret talent for cooking!”

 

“...Don’t say that word….”

 

“What? Pidge with a secret talent-”

 

“No, the other one.”

 

“...wack?”

 

Hunk gives the teen a disappointed stare.

 

“Well Hunk I’m really sorry but I think it’s pretty..”  _ Pause for dramatic affect _ , “wack that you don’t like the word wack.” 

 

“Laaaaanceeeeee.” 

 

“Huuuuuuunnnnnkk.”

 

“Laanceeeeee.”

 

“Huuunnkk.”

 

“Lance.”

 

“Hunk.”

 

“Lance I swear-”

 

“Ooooooh you swear?! How terrifying!-”

 

The sheer panic from Lances face goes unnoticed by Hunk as he dives in to give the cuban teen the tickle of his lifetime. Lance dodges with not as much ease as he hoped; wincing from the sudden protests of his back. 

 

Hunk sighs while taking the shape of a starfish and flopping entirely onto Lances bed, “I’m too tired for this.” 

 

Lance feels a bit of hurt swirl in his gut; lowkey wishing that Hunk had noticed his uneasy dodge and wince of pain but he sweeps it aside.  _ Does Hunk really need to know? I mean sure; he’s my best friend and we tell eachother everything, almost everything….maybe I can just sweep what happened under the almost everything pile.  _

 

“Hey man.” Said teen looks down to see one of the most innocent and bright smiles he’s ever seen. “Are you okay?”

 

“Of course dude; I’m pretty perfect, which isn’t the wackest thing to happen.” 

 

The older Paladin frowns, digging his head under Lances pillow before letting out a painful groan. “Why Lancee...whyyyyy.” 

 

Lance laughs.  _ Hunk doesn’t need this burden on him too. _

 

_____

 

After Lance slowly trying to turn the conversation into the topic of the mission and ‘double checking’ with Hunk on what he was doing, Hunk figuring out that Lance legitimately wasn’t listening during the meeting a couple of days ago and had no clue what the fuck he was doing, Hunk persuading Lance to go speak to Allura about it and Lance insiting that Allura will have his head upon any mention of Lance not listening; the cuban finally convinced Hunk to let him know his side of the mission.

 

“So basically I stay back at the castle with Shiro to map out where people are and to keep track of everyone?”

 

“Yeah; but you will have to fly blue in order to go in for backup or to form Voltron. Allura will be there too, since there will be three squadrons. I think you were given’ squadron C.” 

 

The duo stare at each other for a second. “I don’t understand-”

 

“Lance I literally just-”

 

“No no no I mean like - why are we risking Keith to fly red and me to fly blue?! We have no clue whether or not we can form Voltron as the old team.” 

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know-”

 

“It wasn’t touched upon and no one seemed bothered by it.”

 

Lance frowns, “...okay..”

 

 Hunk notices Lances self-doubt and egulfs him into a loving hug. “It’ll all be fine Lance. Is there anything else?”

 

“Shit I almost forgot, the schedule that Coran made!” The Red Paladin stands abruptly, making his way over to his desk to retrieve the stupidly translated English.

 

“What about it?”

 

Lance turns around sheepishly.

 

“I can’t seem to figure out some of the words…” 

 

Hunk lets out a soft chuckle. “I always forget English isn’t your first language. You’ve come so far Lance; I’m really proud of you.” 

 

If anyone else was around while the teen was being complimented he would have put on his ego and made a song and dance about it; but Hunk knows him better than that. Instead Lance feels an embarrassed blush form across his cheeks. 

 

“Thanks, Hunk.”

 

“Hey my dude it’s no problem; just simply saying how it is. You really have come far.” 

 

Lance sways from one foot to another briefly. “C’mon man, let me help you.” Lance complies, sitting beside Hunk again as he takes the scrunched up paper-that-has-a-weird-texture-to-it-which-makes-it-obviously-not-paper.

 

“It seems you’ve gotten through today all right.”

 

“Yeah; with the help of red.”

 

“How-”

 

“They’re all robotic, alien technology in the form of space cats Hunk.” Lance feels the small path of warmth left by red heat up a lot quicker than usual causing him to chuckle. “I’m sorry, space lions. I don’t think we should be questioning it Hunk.”

 

The Yellow Paladin nods in amusement. “Did she get mad?”

 

“Apparently cats and lions are different things.” 

 

“Dude that’s like saying dogs and wolves are different things.”

 

Lance feels the heat rise. “Maybe it’s best if we change the topic.”

 

Hunk laughs, “Okay so it says here that tomorrow you will be meeting up with Keith to try and get red to respond to him.”

 

“Joyful.”

 

“And have to practice your long-range combat at some point and Coran wants you to help him clean the pods.” Dread swivels it’s way through Lances gut at the mention of going back to the training room  _ alone _ \- adding in Corans generous cleaning. “And that’s about it.”

 

“Hold on.” The teen takes the alien paper from Hunks grasp. “What does it say about cry-crystmite? Yeah, crystimite. What the fuck is that?” 

 

“Ummm, I think that might be the crystal we got from the mission back in chapter one.” [looks at the reader like on the Office].

 

“Oh, I see...wait what do you mean by chapter one?” The cuban follows Hunks line of vision to the corner of his room. “...Hunk, buddy, what are you looking at?”

The pair make eye contact before Hunk bursts into laughter, confused and honestly slightly scared, Lance let’s Hunk have his laughter.

 

“Okay okay.” Hunk wipes away a stray tear. “I think the meeting before dinner is talking about the crystal which is why it’s a Paladins only meeting.” 

 

Lance nods his head. “Speaking of meetings; why does Keith seem to come find us to tell us about meetings?” 

 

“Maybe he enjoys our antics?”

 

“Or Shiro forces him in hopes he’ll be more friendly with us.”

 

“Yeah…” Hunk complies, “That sounds more like it.”

 

______

 

The meeting was sweet and short for once; although for Lance it seemed like it would never end. That one spot in the middle of the floor forever burning into his brain that he was assaulted there. Right there. He was pinned down and pathetic. The mere fact that everyone carries out the meeting with ease while Lance stands awkwardly close to Pidge and Hunk in fear of being dragged there by those stupidly big hands and stared down by daunting yellow eyes as Yuzurak reenacts his endeavors - instead of stopping where he stopped last time he’d go further and  _ further _ -

 

Unbeknownst to Lance, Pidge notices Lances slight shake and looks up at him. “Hey, Lance, are you okay?”

 

Adrenaline pumps through his system from hearing his own name and he jumps slightly, scaring both Pidge and Hunk in the process. All eyes turn to him. 

 

Anxiety churns in his gut.

 

Lance laughs obnoxiously; catching himself. “Just wanted to keep you all on your toes!” He makes eye contact with Allura and immediately simmers down his tone. “...encase of enemy attack..”

 

“Lance this meeting hasn’t even been going on for ten minutes and you’re still unable to focus. Is there anything to worry about?” Shiro pipes up before Allura could send a smackdown. 

 

The teen feels his face turn a bit red from the sudden change in atmosphere on Shiro’s behalf. “Nonono I’m fine! Like I said just trying to keep ya’ll on your toes!” He laughs again in hopes to get his statement across.  _ God I’m such a fuckup. _

“Really Lance? Why do you have to say such weird words! Are you trying to mock Keith?” Pidge chimes in with a whine.

 

Keith’s head perks up at his name. “Why is Lance mocking me?!”

 

Coran and Shiro glance at each other before Allura attempts to take over again. “Just reiterating that the crystal we got from that Galra base isn’t actually a crystal. It’s a form of gas from the deeper planets of space that produce Enorqua to kill anything it deems worthy enough to kill.” 

 

_ Please, let it kill me. _

 

“So basically it’s a ball of deadly gas that can kill anything that it deems worthy of killing?” Hunk asks. 

 

“Precisely. Since we made a big show of trying to retrieve it from the Galra and alarm signals would have been sent throughout all Galra bases about us having captured it we will be getting General Yuzurak to hand it over to the Galra in turn for his escape. Hopefully when in Zarkons hands it will explode.” 

 

“That’s so...devious.” Pidge laughs clasping her hands together “Amazing! I love this plan.”

 

Allura’s smile turns from delicate to as devious as Pidges and Lance falls for her all over again  _ god dammit. _

 

In an attempt to stop the warm, fuzzy  feelings Lance turns his head and comes across Keith smirking at the two’s silly smiling fit which makes Lances fall even harder because  _ god dammit why is everyone here so fucking pretty _ . Lance swears he was put here by some higher being as punishment from his last life.

 

“Speaking of devious…” Pidge continues, “Who’s ready for dinner?” Hunk groans; causing a chain reaction for Lance to follow suit while the rest of the team look on at them in confusion. 

 

“Pidge has cooked dinner.” Hunk explains. From everyone’s obvious confusion besides Hunk, Lance, and Pidges Coran opens his mouth to speak. Hunk responds before the moustached man could get a word out. “Don’t question it.”

 

“To the kitchen!” Pidge yells, taking the lead. Everyone follows suit, Lance close behind Pidge wanting to get away from the training room as fast as he possibly can.

 

Once Pidge had seated everyone down in, much to everyone's distaste, completely different spots to where they usually sit, the Green Paladin decided it would be in her best interest to give everyone a menu to choose food from. Lance looked down at his menu to find words that were obviously not in english; anxiety made its way around his stomach and head at the thought of having to say the words aloud, ultimately butchering the language. 

 

“What… is this?” The Princess questions, staring at the menu before propping it upside down encase she had it the wrong way, “It’s not in english. Or Altean.”

 

Shiro laughs softly, knowing how excited Pidge is for everyone to try her meals. Pidge glares at the Black Paladin as if daring him to speak up causing Shiro to shake his head lightly. Lance watches the two’s silent conversation. 

 

Pidge clasps her hands together loudly after dismissing Shiro. With a smirk and a confident stance she begins her tale.

 

“I just want you to all know that it’s my absolute honour to verse Hunk in a robotics match and come out on top; especially when precious things are on the line like for example Hunks kitchen and food.” Lance catches Hunks eye from across the table to see him pout. Lance smiles. “And obviously I’m not fully english. My mums side is Italian although through the generations there is some german mixed in there.” Allura raises her hand.

 

“Yes?”

 

“What is...Italion and Gerrmonn?” Everyone chuckles at Allura’s attempt causing her to pout once Pidge grabs everyone's attention again. 

 

“Within the human race we have different continents all over the planet where people speak different languages.” 

 

“So you’re saying even though you all live on one planet not everyone speaks the same language?!” Allura asks, baffled. Pidge nods. 

 

Corans jaw hangs open. “For example..” Pidge turns to me, “Lance is from Cuba so he speaks Spanish. Well, I assume he does anyway. Unless every time he swears out loud he’s speaking in gibberish and not his native tongue.” Said teen feels the anxiety bubble more at everyone’s attention on him; especially the look of ‘we’ll talk later’ Shiro sends him.

 

Allura propels herself forward at this newfound information, staring intently into Lances eyes with excitement causing a gigantic blush to take over his features. 

 

“Would you be able to speak in your language for us?!”

 

Now, it’s not every day that Allura gets excited, so even with the anxiety crawling up his throat in an attempt to close his airways he complies with egotistical enthusiasm. 

 

Coran pushes Allura back slightly so he can see Lance when he speaks. Intending to talk to Allura in Spanish was now out of the question so he settles for the next best; Keith, who was seated beside him with his arms folded and eyebrow raised once realizing Lances attention was on him.

 

Having Keith’s attention solely on him made Lances heart pump a little faster and palms begin to sweat. Especially when staring into the half-galra’s gorgeous deep purple eyes. 

 

_ “Ojalá la mitad de las estrellas brillaran tanto como tus ojos.” _ He whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. Keith keeps staring into the Red Paladins eyes - the intense stare causing Lance to look away slightly to see the tips of Keiths ears turning red.

 

Hunks loud snort is what makes Lance jump out of his trance, feeling his face heat up even more. 

 

“Dude, you seem to forget you have taught me Spanish in the past.” 

 

“ _ Mierda _ -”

 

Shiro catches Lances eyes as if he’d committed a crime; obviously thinking Lance took the piss out of this scenario to insult Keith.

 

“That was beautiful!” Allura claps. “What did you say?” 

 

Lance praises whatever holy being that’s out there for gifting him with fast reflexes in social situations. “I said ‘you have a stupid mullet’ what else would I say?” 

 

Pidge chuckles. “Oh only you Lance, only you.” 

 

Lance tries to avert Hunks eyes as Pidge asks Shiro to help bring the plates out.

 

Pidge tried her best with the food, he’d give her that. It was good. Needless to say, Lance was proud of Pidge and could tell she was enthusiastic about cooking no matter how much she denied it. Once Pidge had left to take the plates Shiro coughed to gain everyone's attention. 

 

“On behalf of Pidge, because we all know she won’t, thank you for eating her Italian creations.  She’s been working hard on the meals all evening. While helping her she told me she’s so glad to share some part of her home with all of you.” 

 

Warm smiles are shared around the table.

 

“Maybe we should do this more often.” Hunk speaks up, everyone seemingly shocked but nodding in agreement.

“We could have everyone cook meals from their homes.” Lance says, excitement flowing through his body.  _ Garlic knots. _

 

“Yes but don’t forget it’s alien food we have back there so you’d have to try your best.” Pidge announces, jumping in her seat beside Shiro. 

 

“And after the mission.” Coran chimes in. Allura nods her head. 

 

“I’m heading to bed.” Hunk announces with a yawn, “More morning training for me tomorrow, yay.” 

 

“Me too.” Shiro agrees.

 

“I’m going to go and beat up some dragons.”

 

Lance grumbles. Of course Pidge has to bring up her winning the console back before they all part ways.

 

Coran waves his hand. “I’m not sure what a dragon is, but good luck!” 

 

Everyone files out, save for Lance who sits back in his chair. The silence for once being seemingly nice. No one around to distract him, no one to annoy him, no one to protect him from Yuzurak-

 

“Hey-”

 

Lance screams, feeling the back of his chair give out beneath him causing him to land on his back. A pang of pain signals up his vertebrae; leading to his bruise protesting against the force of gravity.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Lance groans, looking up at Keith. “Yeah I’m fan-fucking-tastic.”  

 

“Could tell. Do you need help getting up?” 

 

The Red Paladin swats Keith’s hand away, wincing when curving his back to stand straight. “What do you want?” 

 

Pigs were flying, cats were singing, fish were walking becuase for some fucking reason Keith Kogane grabbed Lances hand. “Follow me.”

 

The teen wouldn’t be surprised if all the Galra bases somehow blew themselves up and they could all go home because what the fuck was happening. 

 

Lance could feel his face getting warmer as Keith led him down hallway after hallway without letting go of his hand. A million thoughts a minute going through his mind about what on earth was happening- _ what do you say in a situation like this?! _ ‘Oh, where are we going?’  _ Too stupid of a question, I should know where we’re going because I wasn’t the one who left for the Blade.  _ ‘What are you doing?’  _ No, I feel like thats insinuating something more.  _

 

Keith stops abruptly, turning around slowly and catching Lance off guard because hot damn Keith’s hair was a mess, but in a way that really suited him. His cheekbones were high and prominent, giving a good segway to his beautifully cute button nose and gorgeous doe eyes that were even prettier than any star in the galaxy. The heat in Lances cheeks felt more prominent as they held eye contact for a moment longer. A moment Lance would gladly take so many more of. 

 

_ Damn how hard have I fallen for this mullet-head? I mean yeah he’s utterly  _ **_gorgeous_ ** _ but would he even like me like that? I don’t think I’m ready for any sort of relationship! Or anything along relationship wise- _

 

When Keith steps closer Lances mind comes to a halt. He can feel the fire in his cheeks dissipate at Keith’s words.

 

“I’m lost.” 

 

_ Of course. Of fucking course. What the fucking fuck was I thinking?! _

 

Lance covers up his tracks, letting out an obnoxious laugh. “Coran told me you’d been getting lost lately! Oh my god I can’t wait to use this against you!”

 

“What?! Coran said he wouldn’t tell anyone!”

 

“But did you do the pinky promise?”

 

“...no why would I-”

 

“Exactly!” 

 

Keith groans, “Lance I swear if you tell anyone else-”

 

“Yuzurak knows-” 

 

“Oh for fucks sake.”

 

The name felt like salt being rubbed into his tongue with an old washcloth until it bled. Lance felt dirty, disgusting for even uttering his name. Anxiety swirled around as it always does, clinging onto his stomach.

 

Changing the topic with way too much ease Lance asks, “Where did you want to go?”

 

“Reds hangar.”

 

“Dude, you use to pilot Red how-”

 

“I just forgot how to get there okay? It’s been awhile.”

 

“It seems like you’ve forgotten how to get everywhere.”

 

Usually Lance would have loved, treasured the little shove Keith sent him like old times. But all it did was make him freeze from the sudden movement that was aimed at him.

 

“Shut up.” Keith frowns. Lance could see his attempt to not smile as he turned away. “Now show me where Reds hangar is.”

 

“As you command your majesty.” Lance bows, Keith turning back around just in time to see Lances smirk as he stands straight from bowing.

 

“You’re an idiot.”

 

“ _ Eres un idiota. _ ”

 

“What was that?”

 

“Nothing~” Lance sings, skipping further ahead of the grumpy mullet-head.

 

Upon arrival to Reds hangar Lance swears he can feel eyes on him, the entire time walking to Reds hangar the Red Paladin felt...uneasy. And anxious. Extremely anxious.

 

Red’s barrier went down as she saw Lance walk in, but go straight back up as Keith follows closely behind. The cuban feels Red’s uneasiness in his mind.

 

“What’s wrong girl?” Lance asks, running to her. “It’s only Keith. He use to pilot you, remember?” 

 

Red ignores Lance, standing her ground. “Hey Keith could you possibly stand outside for a minute?” Lance turns to Keith, hurt visibly across his face before remaining stoic again. 

 

“Sure.” 

 

With Keith’s leave Red still refuses to let her barrier down. “Beautiful, gorgeous Red what’s wrong? Don’t you feel well?”  _ Can robotic alien space cats ever not feel well?! _ Reds uneasiness runs through Lances mind again; causing the teen confusion because it’s just Keith. Shouldn’t Red be glad or at least excited to see her old pilot not dead?

 

“Listen, Red, I know we’re meant to be doing this task tomorrow and I’m not sure if you’re mad at Keith or not but he means well. I can tell he misses you and that you miss him. Please let your barrier down.”

 

Lance inwardly chuckles at his last sentence; reminding him of that one ancient story called Rapunzel that not many people seem to know of within his generation. 

 

But still no budge from the Red Lion.

 

“I didn’t wanna have to do this but…” Lance turns away, fixing his hair and stature before turning back around with a dazzling smirk. “ _ Ojalá fueras bombero para apagar el fuego de mi deseo _ .”

 

Adding a wink for good measure Lance waits a few seconds which turns into a minute before groaning, “Come on Red you sometimes understand my Spanish why can’t it be one of those times?!” 

 

Anger gets mixed in with Red’s uneasiness.  _ If only our connection was deeper I’d be able to understand you better _ ...Lance huffs, walking out the hangar to find Keith.

 

“Hey-”

 

It was as if time itself froze over; only affecting Lances physical state as he stared ahead at Keith and Yuzurak talking. His palms become sweaty, anxiety clouding his mind. Head fuzzy with fear the Red Paladin takes a few strides forward catching Keith's attention. Yuzurak having his eyes on Lance the entire time. 

 

“Has Red put her barrier down yet?” 

 

Lance breathes in before answering; keeping his breathing to a minimum. “No, but I think I found a way for you to be able to help.” 

 

Keith nods his head at Yuzurak, the Galra general doing the same before giving Lance a final look over and walking away. Lance releases his breath; feeling like he was about to choke he leads Keith quickly back into Reds hangar. The former Red Paladin pays no mind to Lances weirdness; causing Lance to feel a bit...hurt. Yet relieved. Extremely relieved.  _ No one else needs this burden. _

 

Lance walks up to Reds barrier, feeling Reds uneasiness slowly subside; her anger coming through a little stronger. Once the uneasiness from Reds side disappears completely Lance realises it wasn’t Keith she was trying to keep out. The teen attempts to calm his breathing as Red puts her head down to invite both Paladins inside. 

 

“Now, do you remember how to pilot?”

 

Keith scoffs. “Of course I do.”

 

“Are you sure? Because it seemed like you knew the way to Reds hangar; but we both know how that story turned out.” 

 

The half-galran rolls his eyes, “Very funny Lance.” 

 

The teen smirks in return. “I know.”

 

Through many, many futile attempts to get Red to respond to Keith nothing seemed to work. From trying to get Red to re-bond with him to starting her up and quickly jumping out of the pilot seat and replacing himself with Keith. To which Red was furious about. But Lance chuckled it off, they could always try again tomorrow. 

 

Keith growls once Red shuts off again from him sitting in the pilot seat. That growl sending Lances mind spinning from how many different reasons as to why and how that growl could be used-

 

_ Shut up brain! _

 

“I’m done! Sick of it!”

 

Lance goes silent; in shock or fear the teen couldn’t pinpoint which. He hated it when people yelled but was shocked at Keith’s sudden shift into anger. 

 

Keith pinches the bridge of his nose; breathing in and out slowly a couple of times.

 

“I’m sorry Lance. I’m done for tonight, we can try again another time?” The strain in Keith’s voice doesn’t go unnoticed by Lance.

 

“Hey, buddy, are you okay?” 

 

“Yes Lance I’m fine. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight Keith….”

 

After Keith left the cockpit and Lances dwelling thoughts; uneasiness swirls through his mind and body from Red. 

 

“What’s wrong girl? Do you want me to go and check?” 

 

An attempt to step out of the cockpit forces Red to put her barrier up. Realization hits Lance. 

 

“I’ll stay here. Don't worry beautiful.” He feels his lungs close up as he grabs a blanket from the first aid kit under the seat and reclines his chair back, a choked sob coming out as Red feeds him with comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ojalá la mitad de las estrellas brillaran tanto como tus ojos = If only half the stars in the sky shined as brightly as your eyes.
> 
> Mierda = Shit
> 
> Eres un idiota = you're an idiot
> 
> Ojalá fueras bombero para apagar el fuego de mi deseo = If only you were a firefighter to put out the fire of my desire
> 
> These! Translations! May! Be! Wrong! I never took Spanish; I took Japanese instead so I mean definitely expect Shiro to swear in Japanese or something lmao


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the title, then look at the tags.  
> Look back up at the title then re-read through the tags, carefully.  
> Look at the title again.  
> Re-read the tags.  
> Be careful.
> 
> Unedited. It's 1am. You're welcome.

Waking up in the Red Lion was like waking up to cuddling your mother all night after a bad nightmare. Needless to say, Lance felt loved and protected, snuggling into his pilot seat even more and bringing the fluffy blanket up to his nose in an attempt to re-establish his comfy spot from before. Red had tried to coax the Paladin into talking to her about everything last night; coming to a conclusion that Red knows something bad is happening to her Paladin but she can’t figure out what and knows a certain Galra has something to do with it. 

 

But if their bond was deeper, then Red would know everything. 

 

And Lance intends to keep it under wraps; because this whole thing will blow over and when it does he can forget about it. No one else will need to know. It’s not like they will be staying here for a long time; just until the mission is over and everyone can say their farewells. If Lance can stay as far away from him as possible until he leaves everything will be fine.

 

Red sends a small wave of comfort causing Lance to smile and send some back. It felt almost as if Red was cradling her cub in a protective embrace; who knew the Red Lion could be so loving deep down? 

 

Red in turn sends him disapproval; because of course she is loving. The former Blue Paladin chuckles, teasing her, Red throwing him frequencies of banter in response.

 

Closing his eyes again; the teen sighs in content, snuggling further down into his blanket, welcoming the darkness that sleep brings-

 

“LANCE!” 

 

“ _ Mierda- _ ”

 

“Lance are you in here?”

 

“Red, what time is it…?” 

 

Red brings up the time on her dashboard; Lances eyes widening once recognising the numbers. 

 

“It’s 9am?! Red why didn’t you wake me earlier?!” 

 

A wave of something similar to worry and rest being needed washes over Lance.

 

“But Red you need to wake me up!”

 

Waves of worry and rest come and go again; followed by a wave of justifying why she’s right for not waking Lance up and he’s wrong. Him just being wrong in general. Lance groans.

 

“Lance you are in there right? Allura’s mad!”

 

That sent Lance bolting straight up, straightening out his shirt and fixing his hair before turning back to the dashboard.

 

“Red, bring up the mirror thing.” 

 

The Red Lion complies;  Lance staring at his reflection, visibly surprised that the makeup around his chin and neck has managed to stay on this long. He thanks Red while running out of the cockpit, Hunk and Pidge stare in worry. And frustration. Definitely also frustration on Pidges behalf.

 

“Lance are you okay? You only sleep in Red when you’re feeling….” The Red Paladin stops in his tracks, eyes widening for the second time that morning because Pidge is right there _ and she can’t know anything about what happened on that planet- _

 

“...down.” Hunk finishes; choosing his words carefully. Lance grins, skipping up to the Yellow Paladin. 

 

“I’m perfectly fine~ Keith and I came in here last night to see if he could re-bond with Red and I must have fallen asleep…”

 

“Yeah well because of your antics Allura is mad.” 

 

Hunk nods his head in agreement. “Like raging mad. She went off saying something about making us look bad-”

 

“Basically making us, the Paladins of Voltron, that you’re, you know, a part of, look bad in front of the Blade.”

 

Lance feels guilt boil down in his stomach, making his heart feel heavy. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Commander Stenton just found it amusing.” Pidge says waving her hand, “C’mon, it’s time for training.” She turns, feeling some sort of conversation come along that she isn’t meant to be a part of, and walks out before the duo.

 

Lance goes to walk with her but Hunk tugs him by his jacket sleeve. “Lance what’s wrong?” 

 

Lance turns to his best friend and smiles, shooting up his finger guns in the process. “Nothing’s wrong my dude, I honestly just fell asleep in Red after Keith left.”  _ God this hurts.  _

 

Hunk analyzes his face before nodding his head. “Okay.” 

 

Intertwining their arms, Lance drags Hunk out of the Hangar. “Bye beautiful! I’ll be back soon!” He calls to Red; her responding in kind. 

 

___

 

Training was horrendous; especially on an empty stomach. He felt his stomach gurgle every time he moved too fast. But on the plus side he felt light and fast on his feet as he dodged gladiator after gladiator while helping keep his team safe. 

 

Pidge takes a stab at the last gladiator standing; Coran shouting to end the training sequence for debriefing.

 

“Excellent! You all passed level 5 with ease. Although Hunk,” He turns to him with a twirl of his moustache, “If you hadn’t had stood too far away you may not have almost blasted Shiro. And Shiro,” He turns to the Black Paladin, “Look out for blasters coming from behind you.” 

 

Shiro nods his head with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, sorry Coran.”

 

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying sorry?? I almost blasted you!” 

 

“Pidge, excellent work on making your way around everyone to get to the main gladiator. You were as unnoticeable as a mouse!” Upon the word mouse, the space mice suddenly appear on both Corans shoulders, causing him to shriek. 

 

Coran’s shriek scared Lance half to death; immediately clinging to the person beside him who jumps a little from the sudden contact. Lance looks up into the eyes of Allura and feels his face turn red.

 

“Ah I’m sorry Princess-”

 

The Princess laughs, patting the teen on the arm. “Don’t worry about it. I think everyone was surprised.” 

 

They share a smile before Allura continues. “Although I’m still not happy with your tardiness. It seems that it’s gotten worse ever since the Blade came to stay.” 

 

“Alright!” Coran announces, setting himself straight after getting the mice off. “Allura that tactic you used was great, but make sure you’re not using too much anger in your fighting when someone almost gets hit; anger will cloud your mind and you’ll end up acting out and possibly putting the whole mission in jeopardy.” Allura nods with furrowed brows, trying to grasp what Coran had said. The older Altean turns to Lance with a wide smile.

 

“You were so fast! You skittered across one end of the training room to the other and it was remarkable! Where has this sudden energy spouted from?”

 

Lance takes a deep breath in, covering it up by accentuating his chest and striking his signature pose; index finger and thumb raised below his chin with the most obnoxious smirk he thinks he’s ever pulled off. Pidge groans.

 

“Why thanks Coran. You could say I’m quite fast on my feet, but you gotta do everything you can to be the team’s number one sharpshooter~” 

 

Coran chuckles. “Yes, but do remember to not get too cocky mah boy; you were exceptional today but make sure you don’t get in your teams way with your fast sprints.” 

 

_ Get in peoples way?  _

 

Allura clasps her hands together to gain everyone's attention before speaking. “I feel like we have grown so much as a team and I hope to grow even more.” Shiro nods.

 

“You’re right Princess. Maybe we should all take a short break before we come in for one-on-one training.” 

 

“Oh, finally, I can have a nap…” Pidge grumbles, rubbing her eyes. 

 

“What time did you go to sleep?” Lance asks, a sort of older brother tone pushing through.

 

The Green Paladin stares at him blarily. “We’re in space so technically time doesn’t exi-”

 

“Pidge.” Hunk says sternly.

 

“Okay okay...probably around 3…” She announces, blinking one eye at a time like a lizard.

 

Shiro places his hand on the youngest Paladins shoulder, her looking up at him wearily. “You need to sleep earlier Pidge. If you need help sleeping I can give you some sleeping tea Coran gave to me.” 

 

“I can whip you up a batch right now!” The Altean pipes up. Pidge shakes her head.

 

“No I’m fine-”

 

“I think it’d be for the best, Pidge.” Allura states. 

 

Hunk nods his head firmly. “We can all remind you to take it before you sleep.” 

 

“And I’ll come in to check to make sure you are asleep.” Lance adds with a soft smile. 

 

Pidge begins to protest again until she feels everyone's eyes on her and deems it useless. 

 

“Fine.” She huffs, earning a ‘finally’ from Hunk and a ‘woooo!’ from Lance. 

 

“Honestly, I thought I’d have to come into your room and steal the console!” The Red Paladin laughs. Pidge chokes out a ‘you wouldn’t dare’ as Lance tries to act out how he would intend to steal it. 

 

Hearing the doors slide open makes Lance immediately turn to the newcomers. 

 

“I see Lance is finally here!” Zaila pokes with a smile. Lance grins in return before noticing the other Galra behind her; his eyes calculating seemingly..only on Lance. Anxiety coils in his gut and fear races in his heart. No matter how many times Lance gets anxious he’ll never get used to the feeling of his thoughts running a million miles a minute that sends his stomach doing rolls.

 

“I’m glad you two are here!” Coran chitters, “But where’s Stenton?” 

 

“He’s talking to the squadrons at the moment; getting them into groups for scheduled training.” Zaila replies, walking further into the room, “And we thought we’d get some training in ourselves before the groups come in- Oh, did we interrupt?” 

 

“No, we were just about to-”

 

“Go over mission plans again!” Allura announces, cutting Coran off. “In the Bridge.” 

 

Lance looks over at Hunk who shrugs his shoulders in return. Pidge once again groans.

 

“But Pri-”

 

Allura turns to Pidge, a ‘you better play along’ look being sent her way. The Green Paladin seems to get the idea pretty quick. 

 

With everyone else being left in the dark.

 

“Right! Off you guys go!” He says, waving the Paladins away. “I’ll get the training bots ready for you.” He finishes, turning to the two Galra generals. 

 

Lance gulps; realization hitting him that he’d have to walk past Yuzurak. He shakes his shoulders a bit, feeling his Paladin armour become suddenly a bit too restricting. As everyone begins filing out he makes sure to stay glued to Hunk; using the Yellow Paladin as a shield against the wondering eyes of his attacker. 

 

“Hey dude.” Hunk pipes up, “Wanna get a snack?” Hunks eyes widen in realization, “You haven’t had breakfast!” He shrieks, gaining the attention of Shiro. 

 

Shiro cuts Lance off, “I’ll join you. To be honest I haven’t had breakfast either.” 

 

Hunk splutters. “You two! I’m gonna keep close eyes on the both of you, no more skipping meals!” He repremends, aiming his words more at Shiro than Lance. 

 

Lance laughs, saluting. “Aye aye captain!”  

 

Once seated Hunk brings out some goo-filled donuts; insisting that they taste much nicer than plain old food goo. Shiro smiles as he takes the plate from Hunk, Lance following suit. 

 

“So what was with Allura’s franticness to keep our resting hour on the down low?” Hunk asks as he sits himself down.

 

“It’s most likely because she doesn’t want the Blade to see the Paladins of Voltron lazy; because they don’t understand that humans are significantly less capable of running around on zero rest.” Pidge answers, waltzing in to grab her own goo-filled donut. 

 

Shiro nods his head. “She wants to keep the illusion that Voltron is basically invincible.” Shiro finishes.

 

Lance feels his stomach coil, a new weight heavy upon his shoulders to uphold the status of being invincible; which also brings about not ever being able to let anyone down. 

 

Pidge snorts, pulling out the seat beside Shiro. “Invincibile.”

 

Hunk raises an eyebrow at the Green Paladin. 

 

“What?” She questions, “Humans are probably one of the weakest species within the vastness of space. Why are a handful of humans piloting Voltron?” 

 

“True, I don’t see why they didn’t bond with stronger...aliens. I mean, look at us!” Hunk lifts his arm up, squishing it in the process, “We’re soft, squishy, and aren’t half as athletic, magical, or intelligent as other aliens!” 

 

The cuban looks down at himself, noticing how he has built some muscles over the past year or so of being a Paladin, but no matter what he’ll only ever be skin and bone. He lets out a sigh as he takes the last bite out of his equivalent of a donut, Hunk and Pidges conversation putting him slightly on edge. 

 

“The lions chose us for a reason.” Shiro cuts in, deeming it worthy for one of his fatherly team leader talks, “We were chosen for a reason. We may not be as good as other species out there, but that doesn’t mean we are any less worthy of being the Paladins of Voltron. The lions believe in us. They believe we can take down Zarkon. Not only do the lions believe, but so do other planets, civilisations, other species have faith in us.” Everyone stares up at Shiro, him adding with a soft smile, “I believe in us.” He ends with his smile on Lance. 

 

Lance can’t help but smile back.

 

_____

 

Lance felt like shit. He comes to the conclusion that his body had prepared for him to not eat for a while longer and the sudden food in his system made it react horribly. The teen flops onto his back causing his bed to bounce at the motion. Don’t get him wrong, the space-goo donut tasted amazing, but he doesn’t think he could ever eat one again. 

 

He lets out a groan and rubs his stomach in an attempt to ease the pain. It took Lance five minutes to persuade Hunk into walking with him to his room and trying to cover it up with talking about the mission on the way to his room in order to not waste their lazy hour. Hunk had seemed conflicted, but shrugged nonetheless and agreed. 

 

The teen shifts slightly, completely forgetting about his back and hissing in pain. Not wanting to think about it too much, he brings his hands to his face and shrieks in response at how oily his skin feels. 

 

With a leap in his step, Lance dives into his small bathroom determined to fix his face. Turning the tap on to let warm water seep through he grabs his cleanser and rubs in soft circular motions. A sudden calm soothes over him as he cleans from the neck up, pushing his skin against gravity instead of with it to reduce the risk of early fine lines and wrinkles. 

 

Hey, he has a slight fear of aging that can be treated, okay? 

 

After rinsing his face and bumbling around for his face towel to pat dry, he analyzes the hulking bruise around his neck and jawline. He inhales slowly, covering the bruise with his hand to see just how much bigger Yuzurak’s hand is in comparison to his own. Lance shivers. 

 

Fumbling through the rest of his routine Lance lets out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding once the bruising is covered with concealer Lance had brought from earth. He didn’t realize he had it in his jacket pocket at the time, because god knows how it ended up there.

 

Maybe this was the reason. 

 

Maybe some other being out there knew something like this was going to happen to him in the vastness of space and decided to at least lend some help.

 

Lance inwardly laughs.  _ Yeah, right. _

 

__________________

 

Lance stumbles slightly out of the training room, Shiro catching him in the knick of time and hoisting the startled teen to his feet. Lance feels his face go red at the feeling of Shiro’s warm, toned stomach against his back.

 

Lance really wished he hadn't changed out of his armour in the training rooms changing facility.

 

“Are you alright Lance?” Lances ear tingles at Shiro’s warm breath against it and launches himself out of the older Paladins arms like a missile. 

 

“Y-Yes yes! I’m perfectly fine Shiro!” 

 

Shiro lifts an eyebrow in turn, nodding his head, unconvinced. 

 

“Lance..” Shiro takes a step toward him and fear clenches around the teens gut.  _ ‘It’s only Shiro it’s fine.. _ ’ He tries to calm himself down, confusing himself as to how this causes him anxiety but being held by his waist hadn’t made him want to run away in fear?! 

 

The Black Paladin smiles, a sweet smile that makes Lance realize that Shiro really shouldn’t be out here in space fighting a galactic war. He places his hand on Lances shoulder before continuing, 

 

“You seem to be zoning out a lot lately, Lance. I’ve also noticed you’ve been on edge and…” Shiro trails off, brows furrowed in an attempt to conduct his next sentence so it didn’t sound weird. “...And you’ve suddenly pulled away from Yuzurak.” Lance feels his anxiety heighten at the mere mention of his name. “Did something happen? You were both getting along surprisingly well…” 

 

_ Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him and you won’t have to live in fear anymore. _

 

The teen chuckles, smiling up at Shiro. 

 

“Everything is fine, we’ve just been too busy with our own stuff that we kind of just drifted apart I guess. It’s fine though.” 

 

Shiro nods his head in thought, smiling back before patting him on the shoulder like how a father would to his son, saying how impressed he was during the training. 

 

Lance smiles along, taking in the praise and goofing off as much as he can so he can just relax. He doesn’t want the mission to fail because of him. The mission can’t fail because of him.

 

Saying goodbye to Shiro as they turn different ways, Lance feels the hair on his neck stand on end. A sinking feeling in his gut coming forth at being alone. The teen shakes his hands to release tension, walking faster with each step. 

 

There’s no other sound but the teens light breathing and the padding of footsteps getting more frantic as panic dwells in his mind. During his one-on-one training a small squadron was training, Yuzurak being nowhere in sight for that entire hour, meaning the Galra general could be anywhere.  

Another pair of feet are heard along the tiled floors, and Lance feels his heart leap into his throat at the sound. With a sudden boost of energy the teen bolts, mind in a frantic mess in utter fear that Yuzurak has found him and will-

 

“Lance!” 

 

Coran.

 

The Red Paladin stops dead in his tracks, turning his body slowly to face the moustached man. The Altean laughs, slapping his thigh with his hand. 

 

“My boy, you’re quite the runner aren’t you!” 

 

Lance laughs sheepishly, feeling his heartbeat plummet.

 

“Anyway,” He continues, “You’re on first shift this week to help clean the cyropods.” Coran leans in, looking suspiciously behind him before continuing in a low whisper, “You’re my favourite to clean with. A lot more fun than the others!” Coran lets out a boisterous laugh, Lance chuckles along trying to reel his mind in that this is Coran, not Yuzurak.

 

Lance loves talking to Coran; he’s so easy to have a conversation with and the teen get’s to discover so many new random things about the Altean whenever he’s on cleaning duty with him. Like how Coran and King Alfor were always up to mischief; how they had let the horses loose in the city, how they attempted to make a treehouse, how they had once snuck into the maids quarters. 

 

The teen was up to his knees in cleaning when Coran started talking, wanting to fill in the silence. “Did I tell you about the time Alfor and I accidently set the kitchen on fire?” 

 

Lance stops what he was doing, turning to face the Altean in astonishment. 

 

“What, no?!? The kitchen in this castle?!” Coran nods his head, chuckling. 

 

“Yep! Alfor wanted these sweet oval-shaped biscuit things…” He trails off. Lance lifts an eyebrow. 

 

“You mean doughnuts?” 

 

“No, but they were like what you humans call doughnuts. They had a center and you cooked them in a pan.” 

 

“...Pancakes?” Coran stares at Lance for a few seconds, causing anxiety to bubble in his chest. 

 

“Is that what you call them?” 

 

“Yeah, they’re like cakes but..made in a pan.” 

 

“Pancakes…?  We called them oval dough!”

 

Lance laughs, throwing his head back. “Oval dough?! That’s so stupid!”

 

“Say’s the species who calls them pancakes.” 

 

The teen acts like he’s been punched, crumpling to the floor. “Coran oh how you wound me with such vicious words!” 

 

“It’s all in a days work mah boy.” Coran continues, Lance getting comfortable on the floor - lying on his stomach with his head resting in his palm, “There we were, the young prince and I sneakily making our way to the kitchen during the night. Alfor was too short to reach the top shelf of the cabinet so we had to work as a team. He was so small when he was younger! He turned the stove on, poured the mixture in and we got distracted - as kids do. Then BOOM! The stove exploded, pan flys through the air, Alfor and I are standing there covered in oval dough mixture! And the maids! Oh they were so angry!” Coran laughs. 

 

Lance laughs along, imagining everything so vividly. “That reminds me of one time my niece and I were-”

 

A bang echoes outside the med bay causing Lances hair to stand on end, his anxiousness breaking the surface again. The Red Paladin goes to ask Coran what it was before he’s sprinting to the door and opening it to find Allura - hand covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. 

 

Lance lifts himself from the floor quickly, jumping to Allura’s aide.

 

“I’m fine.” The Princess sniffles out, taking a deep breath in, “I was just coming to check that you had someone helping you clean the pods.”

 

“What was that bang? Are you okay?” Lance dismisses Allura’s untrue statement.

 

“I-I accidentally walked into the wall.” The teen is confused; he never thought of Allura as being clumsy or aloof. 

 

“Come here, I’ll check your head.” Allura complies, sitting herself down on the seat by the desk away from the pods. 

 

“Lance, I’m sorry but…” He nods in understanding. 

“Wait, lunch is almost ready. And I think Hunk wants to see you beforehand, Lance.” The teen furrows his brow. 

 

“Thank you, Allura.” He replies, wanting to get out of that room as fast as he could. He knows when he’s not wanted, so the walk from the med bay to the kitchen was relatively fast - mostly run by anxiety. And fear, fear was definitely mixed in there too.

 

“Hey buddy!” Lance is viciously attacked by goo batter as soon as he steps a singular foot into the kitchen. The teen freezes, looking into the widening eyes of Hunk. 

 

“Dude!”

 

“I’m so sorry-”

 

“Oh this means war-”

 

“No wait I’m sorry-”

 

Lance ignores his best friends apologies in favour of swiping the goo off his face and throwing it at Hunk, causing the Yellow Paladin to stumble back and pretend he’s been shot. Which probably isn’t the best thing to joke about during a war, Lance concludes, but it was hilarious. 

 

Before Hunk could retaliate the teen swoops behind the kitchen counter, swiping what seemed like a cookie from the cooling rack.

 

“No not my cookies!”

 

Lance jumps up, throwing the cookie. He panics a little bit, the cookie aiming straight for Hunks head. The teen watches Hunk in awe as he catches the cookie in his mouth, chewing aggressively. 

 

“Now this means  **war** .” 

 

Hunk scoops up some batter from the bowl on autopilot, running about the kitchen trying to smoosh it into the younger paladins face. Lance laughs as Hunk chases him, effectively dodging the goo that’s thrown his way. 

 

It took two minutes. Two minutes for the kitchen to be in a shambles. A second for Shiro to come in, gawking at the scene in front of him, and another two seconds for Stenton to follow in behind - laughing at the Red and Yellow Paladin’s antics. 

 

Five minutes for Shiro to scold them, a second for Stenton to laugh and tell them ‘good job!’ and it felt like the world stopped when Yuzurak stepped into the room. His eyes seemingly calculating the messy state of the kitchen before his eyes land on Lance, who has his arm around Hunk to stand straight from stubbing his toe during the fight.

 

_ Jealousy. That’s got to be jealousy.  _

 

Lance looks down - his shoes rather interesting. They’re blue, grey, and white. Kinda comfy, very battered and torn. He looks at Hunks feet, finding lion slippers adorning them. Maybe he should follow in Hunk’s footsteps - comfort over looks. 

 

Shiro sighs, “How much longer until lunch Hunk?” 

 

“I think goo will have to do for lunch today, sorry Shiro.” Lance knows that Hunk hates the disappointed dad look that Shiro gives when one of them ‘fucks up.’ A swirling pool of guilt, and the power of pushing down the anxiety climbing up his throat, Lance speaks.

 

“Please don’t blame Hunk for this, Shiro.” He looks up, making eye contact with the Black Paladin. “It was all my fault; I started it.”

 

“But Lance I splattered the-”

 

“Hunk may have thrown the goo at me while turning around, but that was on accident. I carried it on and turned it into a war.” 

 

“Thank you for your honesty Lance, but you are both at fault. Hunk helped carry it on.” Lance looks down.

 

Hunk nods in understanding. “I’m sorry Shiro.” 

 

“Please don’t do this again, especially at a time like this.” 

 

“C’mon Shiro, they need some fun in their lives.” Stenton pipes up, Shiro turns to him. “We’re in a war, and we need to focus all our attention on the mission but that doesn’t mean fun needs to be cancelled out.” Stenton smiles. “Besides, we all need a break sometimes.” 

 

Shiro looks back the the two paladins covered in goo batter and sighs again. “Make sure you clean this up before Allura sees.” 

 

“Agreed. She’ll probably have an aneurysm.” 

 

“Pidge.” Shiro repremends.

 

Pidge looks up from the device in her hands, freezing once realizing she was standing by Yuzurak. She walks past him and it takes everything within Lance to not pull Pidge away and hide her behind him. She looks around the room, whistling. 

 

“Wow guys, you have really made a mess.” She takes a cookie off the cooling rack, nibbling on it. “At least the cookies are still fine.” With that, Pidge takes her leave after taking a handful of the cookies. 

 

“Why don’t you have a reaction like that, aye?” Stenton chuckles, nudging the Black Paladin in the side with his elbow. 

 

Shiro chuckles along, painfully in Lances eyes, and turns back to the other two paladins. “Please clean this up, I’ll come back and help make lunch soon.” 

 

They all leave, Lance’s anxiety still lingering from Yuzurak even being there in the first place. Hunk and Lance share a look before getting stuck into cleaning. Lance whines, considering this was the second time he’s cleaned today. Hunk chuckles and rolls his eyes, letting his friend complain.

 

At some point the space mice come in and help them, squeaking at each other while doing so and the bigger one making its own personal mission to curl up in Hunk’s slippers once he takes them off. 

 

Shiro comes in what seems like hours later according to Lance, which in his defence his body clock is terrible. Shiro helps fill the bowls with goo, placing a cookie on another plate. Hunk takes this as an opportunity to be fancy and places the plates on top of the bowls to create a double decker food display. Lance watches them do this, scrubbing out the sink.

 

Lance still feels guilty about the food war but pushes it down; knowing bringing it up won’t help him in any case. The teen feels slightly out of place; Coran coming in at some point with Zaila and Yuzurak to grab the floating trays and piling them high with goo for the squadrons. Lance feels on edge the entire time until they leave, unbeknownst to Lance Hunk notices but doesn’t say anything, instead watching as the three take their leave, Zaila making some odd Galra joke causing Coran to laugh and Yuzurak to stay stoic. As always.

 

With the help of Shiro and Hunk, Lance sets up the table as everyone comes to sit down. Unfortunately for Lance that includes Yuzurak. He feels anxiety doing forward rolls, noticing he has the last bowl and Yuzurak hasn’t been served yet. He lets out a shaky sigh, walking over to the Galra general. 

 

When they make eye contact Lance freezes, standing close - too close -  he can feel those hands crawling up his skin. 

 

He sees the Galra look him up and down. The teen mutters out an apology as he leans down to place the bowl in front of him. It suddenly feels like he can’t breathe. A hand, a large hand, drags it’s way up Lances thigh causing Lance to internally panic, almost dropping the bowl in the process of putting it down. Lance wants nothing more than to bolt, but he can’t. He will raise suspicion if any panic or fear resides on his face. 

 

So he smiles. Charmingly. So blindingly charming that he tricks himself for a few blissful seconds. 

 

Making his way to be seated beside Hunk he feels sick. 

 

“I thought we were having something special for lunch, Hunk?” Allura asks confused, picking up her spoon. Lance can feel Hunk’s panic and helps out.

 

“He felt like it wasn’t to his standards, so he’s saving it for dinner instead.” 

 

_ Why am I so good at lying. _

 

Allura smiles in turn, “I’m sure whatever you make will be wonderful, Hunk.” 

 

The Yellow Paladin smiles sheepishly, “Thank you Allura.” 

 

Throughout lunch everything seemed off for the Red Paladin, he looks around the table. Zaila and Allura were chatting away, Lance was glad that Allura seemed okay now. Keith seemed happy just even being seated by Shiro and munching away like a mad man. Stenton and Coran seemed intent on trying to figure out how fast a Vulrio could run, whatever that was, and Hunk and Pidge were too busy eating to really talk. 

 

Lance shifts uncomfortably, his eyes connecting with yellow.  _ For fucks sake. _

 

Why him. Why Lance. Why did Yuzurak even have to be part of this division of the blade? It would be so much easier if he just...wasn’t. 

 

He can still feel Yuzuraks lingering touch on his thigh. Lance feels self conscious; is he eating the right way? Did anyone else see their interaction? Is there food on his face? How can he get away after lunch without being left alone and caught by  _ him _ ? 

 

Lance feels his stomach churn. He looks down at his plate of goo and to the cookie on the side, feeling his appetite leaving, he puts his spoon down - still fully aware of Yuzurak’s stare. 

 

“Hey.” Lance jumps, looking up behind him and into striking purple eyes. Lance gives a strained smile. “Red?” 

 

The teen nods, fully understanding Keith’s question -  _ thank the fucking lord for Keith Kogane _ . Keith smiles lightly at Lance, causing Lances heart to flutter. On second thought,  _ fuck you lord for Keith Kogane. _

 

Lance stands, pushing his chair in.

 

“Are you not gonna eat, Lance?” 

 

The teen freezes, looking down at Hunk’s worried face. “I’m not that hungry.”

 

“Do you have a fever?” Pidge asks.

 

This catches Allura’s attention, confusion written across her face. “How would Lance have a fever? We haven’t been in contact with any other planets for a while.” 

 

“Maybe someone from a squadron?” Zaila offers.

 

Lance stumbles on his words, surprised at the sudden worry on everyone’s faces. 

 

“Would you like to go to the med bay?” 

 

“No, n-no Coran. I’m fine,” Lance chuckles, pulling out the finger guns with a wide smile. 

 

Hunk watches him as he takes his leave...with Keith.  _ With Keith _ . He feels a nudge in his side and looks over to find Pidge smirking while pointing behind her at where Lance and Keith took their exit. 

 

“You think they’re sitting in a tree?” Hunk chuckles, leaving his worry about his friend in the back of his mind. 

 

Hunk takes a moment to think about it. It was obvious Lance was fascinated with Yuzurak for some time and then suddenly they’ve...split apart. And now Keith is in the picture. Did something happen between those three...? 

 

The Yellow Paladin looks away from Pidge, catching Yuzuraks stare. The galra looks away, taking a sip of his water. Hunk frowns.

 

“Hey Pidge, can I talk to you after lunch?” Pidge raises an eyebrow, a little confused that Hunk answered her with a question. 

 

“Sure.”

 

___

 

Lance was ecstatic. On cloud nine - well, planet nine considering there are no clouds in space - but hot damn Keith with his hair in a ponytail is definitely a sight for sore eyes. Maybe he could run a business of this when they get back to earth. Everyone line up to see the fantastic Keith Kogane tie his hair up, five dollars a ticket-

 

_ If they even make it back to earth. _

 

The teen swallows down his sadness, sitting down in the pilot's seat to talk to Red. He sees Keith out of the corner of his eye; standing off to the side with his arms crossed. 

 

_ Breathe in, and out.  _

 

A trail of warmth lights up Lances consciousness, feeling Red’s presence within his mind. “Hey Girl, how are you?” Red responds in waves of affection; asking if her Paladin is okay. Lance smiles.

 

Keith looks at Lance in confusion. 

 

If Keith was being honest, he didn’t understand the connection between the voltron lions and their paladins; it had been so long since he even had a connection with Red he just can’t seem to remember what it was like, so Keith seeing Lance with his eyes closed, focused, and grinning ear-to-ear was kinda...cute, to say the least. It was obvious that Lance has really been trying with Red, and Keith is glad that it was Lance who took his place as the Red Paladin. 

 

Because Keith trusts Lance, and he can only hope that Lance trusts him too. 

 

“She’s still not budging…” Lance announces, slouching in his seat. “It’s like she’s angry that you ‘abandoned’ her or something. I mean, you did say goodbye to her right?” 

 

Lance blanches as Keith has to think for a second. “Keith?!” 

 

“Yes Lance, I said goodbye. I was just thinking about why she’s doing this.” 

 

Lance humms, tapping his finger on the side of his thigh. Maybe tapping the area Yuzurak touched would make the disgusting, lingering feeling disappear? 

 

“I have an idea.” Lance looks up to find the half-galra take a few steps towards him, leaning over his body to touch the controls. 

 

“Ummm...Keith-”

 

“Can I sit in your lap?” The teen freezes, thoughts flying through his mind a mile a minute and not all thoughts were very pure.

 

“W-what?! Why?!” 

 

“Because I have an idea.” Keith reiterates, as if Lance was playing dumb. 

 

Doesn’t this man have any clue what he just asked of him?! Does he know what boundaries are? Hell does he even know the word boundaries?! 

 

“Why don’t you explain-”

 

“Because if I did that then she would know-”

 

“Who-?”

 

“Red. Red would know.” That’s right, they’re in Red.  _ Just breathe in. _ And we’re trying to get Red to respond to Keith.  _ And out.   _

 

Lance nods tentatively, Keith raises an eyebrow but shrugs it off, complying with Lances decision. 

 

Keith wasn’t as light as Lance was expecting. Infact, Keith was far from light. For someone so small, you think they wouldn’t weigh the amount of a pile of bricks. 

 

“Do you keep rocks in your pockets or something?!” Lance asks, trying to stay  _ fucking calm.  _

 

Keith turns to look at the teen with a furrowed brow while Lance tries to keep in a squeak from Keith’s sudden movement.  _ Oh dear God please don’t let my face be red- _

 

“Are you sure you don’t have a fever?”  _ Oh for fucks sake.  _

 

Lance didn’t know how to respond. His anxiety clawing it’s way through his body, and his brain wandering around the dark sewers of his mind, Lance was trying his absolute fucking best to not get hard. 

 

A very very  **_very_ ** handsome man was sitting in his lap. In his fucking lap! How does one respond to this situation?! Was he on some comedy show about his tragic love life?! Was the god of this plane of existence writing him in a way that would suffice as sexual frustration?! 

 

What on earth did he do in his past life do deserve this torment?! 

 

With all this going through the teens mind, he nods. Just fucking nods. How can he be any more suspicious?! 

 

Keith nods back, turning back around to face out the eyes of the lion. Thank you whatever god is out there for making Keith so oblivious. 

 

And then Keith grabs his hands and Lance swears that once again, he wouldn’t be surprised if all of Zarkons ships just blew themselves up and they could all go home. 

 

Keith places Lances hands on the piloting controls, keeping his hands firmly on  **_top_ ** . Lance wonders for a second if this insinuates something-

 

Red started to respond; and Keith wacks Lances hands away, replacing the spot with his own hands. Lance is startled for a few seconds, retracting his hands back to his chest.  _ That kinda hurt…  _

 

Then Red shuts off; and Lance feels the wrath from Red. 

 

“Keiitthhh,” Lance whines, “Now you made her mad.” 

 

Hearing Keith chuckle makes Lances heart flutter.

 

“Well, I tried. I don’t have anymore ideas.” Keith states, turning around to face Lance  _ still in his fucking lap. _

 

They make eye contact for a few seconds, and Lance can’t help but glance down at Keith's plump lips and back into his eyes. He gulps, feeling his face flush even redder at Keith's own eyes trailing down to Lance’s lips. 

 

Lance swears that time stopped within those few seconds of staring. He swears that right now Keith is fucking leaning in and the flustered teen can’t help but do the same, mesmerized by the pure essence that is Keith Kogane.  

 

Keith’s lips were softer than Lance originally thought they’d be. Turns out all that Lance thought Keith would be like was wrong. 

 

_ Complete and utterly wrong.  _

 

To his own surprise, Lance deepens the kiss with a surge of confidence that flows through him by bringing his hand up to Keith’s back - effectively bringing the teen closer. 

 

Lance can feel Keith freeze for a moment and starts to panic, his anxiety peeking through. 

 

It slowly eases as Keith brings a hand to tangle into Lance’s hair, a shiver cascading down Lances spine. A good shiver. 

 

At Keith’s compliance, Lance feels more confident. Testing the waters, he slips his tongue against Keith's mouth. Keith gasps in surprise and Lance takes this opportunity to infiltrate. 

 

Keith tasted sweet. Like, extremely sweet. Too sweet for his own fucking good. And  _ oh god that gasp _ , Lance just wanted to hear more. 

 

When Keith gets the hang of it Lance melts; giving up the tongue fight with Keith being the best decision he’s ever made in his life. Keith moves suddenly - trying to reposition himself, causing Lance to groan. 

 

Lance halts, eyes blown wide, seeing that Keith has the same reaction. 

 

_ I fucked up. I fucked up oh my god ohmygoohmygodohmy- _

 

Saying that Lance was surprised was a fucking understatement. It was as if a beast was suddenly unleashed inside of the small teen on top of him - it all happened so fast. One second they were staring at each other in surprise, and the next Keith was stradling Lance and deepening the kiss, complete and utter bliss filtering through his lower regions as Keith, low and behold, Keith fucking Kogane, rolls his hips against Lances. 

 

Lance chokes out a low moan through the kiss, and he swears he hears Keith whisper ‘more’ under his breath but he doesn’t know because so much is happening and Keith is  _ so very _ intoxicating.

 

Fingers trace their way under Lances shirt, Keith’s gloved hands roaming around his body. Lance panics for a second, only being able to picture Yuzurak on top of him. In the training room. Trying to rip off his armour. Feeling up his torso and-  

 

“Ah!” Keith rolls his hips again, eliciting a gasp from Lance as he bites down on his neck. 

 

_ The bruise.  _

 

Lance doesn’t know what to do. It feels like his mind has been split into two. On one hand he’s panicking about the gigantic hand print around his neck and tasting like foundation, and on the other all he can think of is  _ Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith. _

 

Too much is happening at once; Lance feels overwhelmed with anxiety and pleasure to think straight. 

 

“K-Keith…” Lance whines as he feels Keith’s tongue roam down the length of his neck, stopping at his collarbone. 

 

He bites down, eliciting a sweet sweet moan from the teen beneath him. But it isn’t enough. He needs more. So so  _ so _ much more. 

 

Lance feels tingles roll through his body, feeling Keith's hands roam down and fumble with the button on Lances pants. 

 

Then suddenly there’s no seat beneath him and Lance is falling. He notices Keith fall on his back, his screech coming to a halt as he smooshes against Keith’s body with a giant oof. 

 

 Lance closes his eyes and breathes in, trying to figure out what just happened but only being able to smell Keith brings his mind back to wanting him more. 

 

The younger Paladin feels Keith's hand wrap around his head, being pressed into Keith’s chest protectively encase of more movement. 

 

Waves of flustered anger are sent Lances way.  _ Red. _

 

_ HOLY SHIT RED- _

 

“Mierda!” Lance mumbles against Keith’s chest, feeling his face burning.

 

He feels Keith freeze slightly, and it takes all his courage to look up to see Keith covering his eyes with his free hand, still holding Lance close with the other. 

 

Neither of them know what to say. Or what to do. Or what to think.

 

Because they kissed. More than kissed! They made out! And if this wasn’t happening in the Red Lion then it could have escalated even further- 

 

And Lance would rather not think of that right now, he needs to get his thoughts under control. 

 

“Uh…” The Red Paladin perks up at Keith’s sudden courage to speak, making eye contact before Keith diverts his eyes away, blushing.  _ God he’s so cute. _

 

Lance breathes in, making a decision. “It’s okay…” He starts, tapping his finger against Keith’s shoulder. “We don’t...have to talk about this now.”

 

“...Thank you.” Keith whispers.

 

Lance chuckles, getting off of Keith..albeit more awkwardly then he intended too. 

 

“Red is mad.” 

 

This catches Keith’s attention, sitting up and staring at Lance perched away from him. 

 

“Not just mad; it’s like a flustered kind of anger.” Lance stops, feeling a wave of a motherly ‘how dare you!’ and ‘Why?’ 

 

Keith coughs before bubbling up in laughter; Lance doesn’t know why but he finds it endearing; the whole situation kinda comedic and awkward. Extremely awkward. 

 

But maybe that’s why Lance ends up laughing too, both teens unable to fully comprehend their thoughts and actions. 

 

And that’s okay, because what’s done is done and they don’t have to talk about it right now.

 

___

 

Lance wishes he could go back to the Red Lion - back with Keith on top of him and everything escalating a lot farther-

 

“You missed a spot.” 

 

Lance shrieks, jumping away from Coran who gives him a puzzled look. The Altean points to the glass of the pod. “You missed a bit.”

 

The teen chuckles awkwardly. “Oh, thanks Coran.” Anxiety bubbles in Lances chest at Corans furrowed brow.

 

“Are you sure you don’t have a fever my boy?” Lance feels his breath hitch in his throat.  _ If only I could stop freaking blushing- _

 

“I’m positive Coran.” He smiles. Coran smiles back before moving onto his next pod. A nice silence ensues as they both get stuck into cleaning again.

Lance thinks that maybe, just maybe everything will be okay.

 

“Hey Coran, how’s Allura? Is she okay?” 

 

Hearing the moustached man sigh raises so many concerns. He turns sharply, seeing Coran continue on cleaning without batting an eye.

 

“She’s okay. She overheard our conversation about her father and got overwhelmed.” Lance nods, wondering what it must be like for her. 

 

“Anyway,” Coran continues, “She’ll be fine.” 

 

Lance smiles, caching Corans eye. “I know. She’s very strong.” 

 

“She is indeed.” Coran agrees. 

 

____

 

The teen yawns, stretching his back muscles and wincing slightly at the bruise still etched into his back. He changes his thought process, thinking about what Hunk might be making for dinner. A pain emerges from his abdomen at the thought of food. He looks down just in time to hear his stomach gurgle.  _ Garlic knots would be so good right now… _

 

“Lance!” Said teen looks up to see a beaming Zaila and a flustered Keith trailing behind her. Lance feels his own face turn red.

 

“Hey Zaila, Keith.” Lance responds with the same enthusiasm. 

 

“How’s your schedule been treating you?” 

 

“What do you- oh.”  _ Oh _ . “Was that an attack on-”

 

“Your tardiness? Yes.” Zaila laughs, obviously impressed with her own joke.

 

Lance cups his heart, faking his wound. “Ouch.”   

 

He catches Keith’s eye; who turns away once he was caught staring. Lance smirks. 

 

Zaila sees this interaction and lifts an eyebrow before dismissing it. 

 

“So, I heard you and Hunk started a food war in the kitchen.”

 

Keith sharply turns his head, eyes wide. It kinda reminded Lance of an owl, in a weird-cute sorta way. 

 

“You what?!” 

 

“Word flies by fast throughout the squadrons. It’s a shame I don’t know who started it.” 

 

“Stenton was there.” 

 

Zaila clicks her fingers, “Bingo.” 

 

“Like I said before; you what?” 

 

“On my behalf it was an accident.” 

 

“That doesn’t change the fact you threw food around in the kitchen-” 

 

“Yes but-”

 

Keith sighs, “I swear you can’t be left alone for even five minutes.” Zaila laughs at Keith's jab, nudging him in the shoulder. 

 

“I knew you had some sort of funny bone in ya.” 

 

Lance feels a sting. He doesn’t know why, he knows it was a joke. But Lance can’t help but think that he really can’t be left alone for five minutes anymore with Yuzurak wandering around. It’s terrifying. 

 

“And just a little heads up,” Zaila leans in, whispering, “Allura wants to speak with you tomorrow.” 

 

Lance feels his stomach drop, groaning. “That means she’s mad at meeeee.” 

 

“You didn’t hear anything from me.” Zaila winks, bringing her finger to her lips. Lance zips up his lips, locks it, and throws away the key, grinning. 

 

Keith stares at them in confusion. Keith wonders, for a brief moment, how on earth these two had the time to get to know each other. Slight jealousy swirls in the teens gut. 

 

To Lance, Zaila was like an older sibling. Teasing, yet would give you a heads up to look out for you. This is really only his second encounter with the general, and he feels as if she’s somewhat made it her mission to retell stories to him. He hopes so.  

 

“Anyway,” Zaila waves her hand, “I’ve gotta go and report back to….”

 

“Shiro.” Keith cuts in, confused at Zaila’s sudden burst of laughter. Lance sucks in a breath, trying to contain his.

 

_ Potato snake. _

 

Floodgates of laughter unleash as the pair make eye contact, leaving Keith completely in the dark. Lance swears he saw gloom wash over the poor guys head.

 

Waving goodbye to the pair, Lance laughs as he walks away - hearing Zaila’s laugh in the distance and Keith’s confused questioning. 

 

Lance is glad. Glad that Keith is seeming to open up more.

 

And he’s alone, roaming around the halls on his way to his room. It’s okay. Just breathe. Lance shivers, fear tingling up his spine. Nevermind, retreat. The kitchen is within closer distance.

 

Upon literally running to the kitchen like his life depended on it, which in his case it did, the door flies open, startling the poor Yellow Paladin into swirling around and using his whisk as a weapon. 

 

Lance stares at Hunk for a second before cackling. “You were going to use a whisk to defend yourself?!”  

 

Hunk splutters, his response not making any sense to Lances ears. “What if I were an intruder? How would a whisk defend you?”

 

“I’ll have you know I can do many things with a whisk.” 

 

Lance smirks. “Oh yeah? Try me.” 

 

Hunk takes a defensive stance before furrowing his brow and standing up right. “No, we are not messing up the kitchen again.”

 

The teen sighs, agreeing with a frown. Walking up to his friend, he peeks over his shoulder to take a look at his creation.

 

“Whatcha makin’?” 

 

“It’s a secret.”

 

Lance pouts. “I don’t like secrets.” 

 

“Yeah, well neither do I.” Lance freezes, his mind coming to a halt. 

 

“Wait waitwaitwait that wasn’t an attack on you!” Hunk says quickly, digging himself an even bigger hole. The Red Paladin lifts a brow at Hunks odd behaviour. 

 

_ Does he know? _

 

There are too many things that Hunk could have found out about Lance within these past couple of days. Yuzurak mishaps, his depressive mind slowly creeping back, the Keith fiasco-

 

_ The Keith fiasco. Oh my god it’s definitely the Keith fiasco. Hunk knows, holy shit- _

 

Hunk sighs, looking up at Lance. “What’s going on?”

 

Lance stares at him - Hunk returning the stare. The teen doesn’t know what to say, there are so many answers he could give to that question but what answer did Hunk want? 

 

“What?”

 

“Can you please tell me what’s going on with Yuzurak, Keith, and you.” 

 

“What do you mean by the three of us?” 

 

“You were fascinated with Yuzurak for a while, then you split apart. Now Keith and you seem to have grown closer and I’m just wondering-”

 

“Woah woah waoh,” Lance cuts Hunk off, confused and slightly anxious. “Yuzurak and I have other things to do. And I’m helping Keith re-bond with Red, like how my schedule said remember?”

 

The staring contest happens again, and Hunk blinks. “Oh yeah. I forgot about that.” 

 

“How long have you been worrying about this for-”

 

“To be honest since lunch-”

 

“Wow.” 

 

“Hey, Pidge said this was one of the only reasons you’ve been acting weird lately.”

 

Lance fumbles over his next words, anxiety definitely coiling around his gut. “Weird? What do you mean by weird?”

Hunk looks Lance over before answering, “I don’t know. Something just seems...off.”

 

“Off?”

 

“Yeah, off.”

 

“Off..”

 

“Yes Lance, off.”

 

“O-F-F ?” 

 

“O-F-F.” 

 

Lance nods his head, covering up how much he’s freaking out. Because honestly? Lance wishes he took the extra minute to go to his room instead of here.

 

An uncomfortable silence ensues; well, from Lances end it was uncomfortable but from Hunks end God only knows. The teen helps Hunk gather ingredients from the cupboards, using this as a sort of apology for getting them in trouble for the food war.

 

The cuban teen is mixing a purple-type substance in a bowl when Hunk speaks. “So...you and Keith get far?” 

 

Lance chokes on his saliva, a coughing fit well on its way.  _ What? _

 

“Whoa buddy are you okay?! Don’t die on me!” 

 

“What do you mean did we get far?!” Lance chokes out.

 

“...With Red. Did Keith manage rebonding with her?” A wave of relief washes over the anxiety-ridden Paladin. _ Of course that’s what he meant. I’m such an idiot. _

 

“No, not really.”  _ We did get far with other things, though. _

 

 Hunk whistles. “That’s a shame.” 

 

“Yeah. I still don’t understand this whole lion thing Allura has planned.” 

 

“To be honest, me neither.” The duo turns to find Pidge perching herself up onto a kitchen countertop with a different device from this morning in her grip. “Why does it feel so tense in here? It’s like you could cut it with a- oh. Did you guys talk?”

 

“Yes and I’ll have you know that you were wrong. Nothing like that happened.” Pidge nods her head, eyes still glued to the screen.

 

Lance pouts when the Green Paladin doesn’t pick up the bait about being in the wrong. Hunk deems it worthy to wave his hand in front of Pidges face. She blinks in response.

 

“Hello? Earth to Pidge?”

 

“Technically space to Pidge, thank you.”

 

Hunk shrugs. “At least she’s responsive.” 

 

Throughout the rest of dinner preparations the atmosphere began to return to normal. Somewhat. Lance swears he saw Pidge look from his face and down to his chest at a couple of points but ignores it. It’s Pidge, she’s never had any interest like that in anyone. It must be miscommunication on Lances behalf. 

 

Lance goes to put what seems to be the salt in the pantry when he catches a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the shiny pantry door. He’s not gonna lie; he knows he’s attractive, no wonder Keith- 

 

_ Keith. _

 

Lances eyes trail down his neck to find a small bruise. His breath hitches in his throat. He pulls his shirt down slightly to find it get bigger the more he tugs. He quickly pulls it up, becoming a flustered mess.

 

_ Stupid Keith! _

 

That explains why Pidge has been glancing at him every so often.

 

Pidge knows.

 

Shit.

 

She knows.

 

The teen takes a deep breath in, quieting down his rumbling anxiety. Pidge might not know. She’s young, she won’t know.

 

Turning back around Lance finds Hunk has created quite the feast; the only food Lance is able to recognise is the food goo and leftover cookies from lunch.

 

“Wow Hunk, it looks great.”

 

“I know.” Hunk muses with a smile.

 

Setting up the table was easy this time, Hunk serving the right side of the table while Lance served the left. Witnessing everyones reactions to the many assortments of food was entertaining to say the least, but by far Zaila’s expression was the best. 

 

“Send my compliments to the chef!” Zaila yells as Lance enters the kitchen to grab more plates on a hovering tray. Hunk yells back, having heard her, 

 

“Your compliments have been received; Lance send my thanks!” Lance chuckles, managing to ignore Yuzurak’s lingering gaze for the time being as he makes his way back out into the dinning room. The last plate to put out is Keiths, and Lance takes it upon himself to make a slight show of it while everyone else is distracted by idle chatter and food.

 

The teen gets a little closer to Keith than he usually would, throwing in a sly wink for good measure; brushing his arm against the flustered ravenette’s shoulder. 

 

“Oh, Zaila.” He turns to the Galran General with a charming smile, “Hunk sends his thanks.”

 

“And I send more thanks!” She grins. Lance grins back, throwing her the finger guns while walking backwards into the kitchen.

 

“Anymore plates buddy?” 

 

“Nope, that was it. Could you maybe help me clean up after dinner?” 

 

“Yup, no problemo buckaroo.”

 

“Please don’t say that-”

 

“What? Buckaroo?”

 

“Stop.”

 

“Wack.” 

 

Lance laughs at Hunks groan as he walks out the kitchen, making his way to his seat at the dining table. 

 

Lance felt like he was on a whole other plain of existence; like none of his problems could get to him. Ignoring Yuzurak seems to be getting easier today; and Lance intends to keep it that way. 

 

Dinner was a blast. Pidge and Lance bonded over pretending to greatly dislike the fried vegetables just to give Hunk a hard time, Lance enjoyed the sly glances Keith sent his way, Shiro and Stenton bonded over the scars on their faces, Hunk, Zaila and Coran held their own conversation across the table about all sorts of different foods, Allura had managed to convince the teen into speaking in is native tongue, and all of this was done while ignoring Yuzurak.

 

All in a day's work as Coran always says. 

 

____

 

Lance finishes the last part of the dishes, Hunk turning around to put the dishwasher on.

 

“I can’t believe they call this a wonder washer.”

 

“Pffft- apparently they call pancakes oval dough.” 

 

Hunk looks up in bewilderment. “You’re joking.” Lance shakes his head. “But pancakes makes so much more sense!”

 

“Because they are cakes cooked in a pan!”

 

“Because they are cakes cooked in a pan.”

 

The Red Paladin gasps in astonishment, causing Hunk to chuckle. “Dude, we’re on the same wavelength.

 

“I can tell.”

 

A comfortable silence washes over them, Hunk whistling as he washes his hands.

 

“Hey, Lance?” 

 

“Yeah buddy?” 

 

“Remember when Allura first made you speak spanish?” 

 

Lance stutters, already drawing a conclusion as to what Hunk wants to discuss.

 

“You doing it again tonight reminded me that what you said to Keith in spanish? Definitly a gay thing to say.” 

 

“Shhhh! Keep your voice down!” 

 

“So I was right!” 

 

Lance sighs. “Yes, and I regret ever tutoring you in spanish!”

 

“Hey, thanks to you I was able to pass all my classes.”

 

“P.E?” Hunk turns to Lance sharply, a frown accompanying his face.

 

“We do not speak of P.E.” 

 

The younger teen laughs, a yawn escaping mid-way through. “I think that’s God telling me what’s up.”

 

“More like God is revoking your speaking rights.”

 

Lance rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah, goodnight my main man.”

 

“Goodnight buddy.” 

 

And with that Lance takes his leave, his mind wandering to questioning whether or not there really is some sort of God out there in this plain of existence. For all Lance knows, Hunk could be the God that’s toying with everyone's lives. He highly doubts that. 

 

Pidge on the other hand? Yeah, she could be God. That seems to be more convincible. 

 

Lance feels the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, the sudden feeling of being watched encompassing his mind. He shakes it off, deeming it as his hyper-active mind. Everything is fine. 

 

Speeding up his walking pace, Lance covers it up in his mind that he just wants to get to bed faster. His beauty sleep is needed, and he wants to wake up fresh and bright tomorrow. Lessen his anxieties, fly through his face routine, and get done what needs to be done. Motivation swirls through his body and he feels pride; like his old self is coming back. Even if it’s just for this hour, Lance needs it. And he’s grateful. 

 

When Lance enters his room he decides to take a different course of action; grabbing the blue blanket at the end of his bed and swapping out his battered shoes with comfy blue lion slippers - he may not be the Blue Paladin anymore, but he deems it wrong to take Keith’s slippers from him. Allura has pink ones anyway. 

 

Grabbing his rectangular decorative pillow from the corner of his bed, he walks back out of his room and into the cold hall. He stares at Keith’s rooms door for a few seconds, whispering a goodnight before making his way further down the hall; past everyone’s rooms and into a space with divided hallways leading into different sections. The teen takes the third one on the right, if he remembers correctly, and makes his way down. 

 

He notices a small star on the wall caused by a red marker and inwardly cheers, mentally patting himself on the back for getting the right hallway on the first go. Walking down these halls without Hunk by his side was kinda eerie; he remembers when they’d had first found them, Lance making it his mission to explore the castle and to drag Hunk along with him. 

 

The door slides open, the teen taking in the extraordinary sight of the stars just beyond the glass. Mesmerised, he walks towards it; feeling small within this galaxy. Lance loves it, loves this room, loves being able to look at the stars with no hassle - don’t get Lance wrong, he is a social butterfly - but every once in a while? A room nobody else knows about except him and his best friend is probably one of the best things to Lance. 

 

He sighs; not being able to recognise any of the constellations, subconsciously reminding himself that he is nowhere near Earth’s galaxy. Maybe when they get back-

 

A shiver rolls down Lances spine and he turns around instinctively; expecting to find someone or something there but comes across nothing, the couch the only really visible thing in the dark room. He tugs the fluffy blanket around his shoulders, cradling the satin-smooth pillow to his chest.  _ Stupid hyper-active brain!  _

 

Anxiety still manages to clench his gut - what if someone is out there. Past that door. Lance finds himself walking slowly back to the door, almost walking into the pole close to the couch.  _ Stupid interior design.  _

 

Lance comes to a conclusion quite fast; he regrets coming here instead of staying in his room. He thought that he would be safer here. But he’s a fucking idiot, because this room is so far away from everyone else. If anything happened he doesn’t know what he would do. Probably just hope he can still run, or that Hunk will end up finding him. 

 

An image floats through Lances mind, himself peering off the edge of a rocky cliff under a dead tree and all the emotions that came crashing down that day. The teen shakes his head because now is not the time to remember what happened on Capleom.

 

Lance just wanted to be able to relax and star-gaze, letting his mind wonder about other galaxies and alternate realities. Maybe even daydream about showing Keith this place.

 

But it all came to a halt once the sliding doors open. 

 

Yellow eyes bore into his own and the teen can’t help but let out a shriek as a giant hand comes swooping down, dodging the attack by jumping backwards and almost tripping over the couch, blanket falling off in the process. 

 

Lance jumps over the couch to create some distance. He hears the lock of the doors and he begins to panic even more. 

 

Yuzurak picks up the fallen blanket, and smells it. He fucking smells it - staring the petrified Paladin in the eyes with a shit-eating grin. 

 

“Thank you for letting me join you.” Yuzurak growls, taking a step closer. 

 

Lance could feel his stomach churn at the Galra’s voice. His anxiousness from before? Heightened. Panicking? Heightened. Feeling like he’s going to puke? Heightened. 

 

“I didn’t let you join shit.” Lance finds his voice, gripping his pillow tighter to his chest. Yuzurak notices this - the slight twitch in the Red Paladins muscles, the panic behind his gorgeous eyes, the fear he doesn’t know what to do with so uses it to clench his pillow for comfort. 

 

_ Delicious.  _

 

“Feisty now aren’t we?” 

 

“Fuck off. Leave me alone.” Lance feels his legs tremble, trying to fight off the anxiety that is slowly swallowing him whole. 

 

The Galra General chuckles - a deep, throaty chuckle that causes the teen to take a step back until he feels his back come in contact with the glass behind him.  _ Shit.  _

 

“I don’t like how you treat me.” Yuzurak says, folding Lances blanket and placing it on the armchair of the couch, “You’ve been quite cold and distant towards me lately.” 

 

“I wonder why.”  _ Really Lance?! Sarcasm?! That’s going to get you killed! _

 

He takes a step closer before continuing, “I don’t know; considering you were fascinated with me the first couple of days I was here. What ever happened?” 

 

“I don’t have to tell you jack shit.” 

 

“I’m gonna be honest; I’m not entirely sure what that means but I’m going to take it as you being quite rude.” 

 

Lance rolls his eyes. 

Anxiety didn’t even cut it for what Lance felt in that moment as Yuzurak jumped over the couch. It was as if time itself went by too fast; leaving him in the dust, not being able to catch up, do anything, or even comprehend what was happening. 

 

Yuzuraks hands pining Lances above his head felt like a weird fever dream, as if this isn't really happening. None of this was real. He felt motionless; slow as time sped up. 

 

Then suddenly Lance was thrown onto the couch. His head hurt, but he was standing back up in a matter of seconds - his body on autopilot as his brain is left in a panicked mess. He felt far away, distant, screaming at his body to do more than just fucking stand there, glaring at the Galra. 

 

Lance goes to punch him as Yuzurak takes a step forward, gripping the teens wrist and kicking his legs out from underneath him. He realizes he fucked up. He falls back, just barely landing back on the couch before Yuzurak hoists himself on top of his small frame. 

 

The teen feels fear. Unwarranted fear. Everything becoming suddenly too real. 

 

He screams, causing Yuzurak to cover his small ears and Lance uses this newfound opportunity to drag his body out from under Yuzurak, just barely being able to use the pole behind him to do so.  

 

The Red Paladin makes it off the couch, but doesn’t unclasp his grasp on the pole in time. 

 

A cool chunk of metal is placed around his wrist - he trails along with his eyes to see the other end attached to the pole. Lance looks up just in time for Yuzurak to punch him in the face.

 

He felt distant again; his brain panicking, fear and anxiety working together to make the entire situation worse. 

 

Maybe he should have just ended it on that cliff-face planet of Capleom. If he had known that this was going to happen in the future, he definitely would have. 

 

But then this might be happening to one of the others and Lance would rather it be him than anyone else. In an alternate reality; it wasn’t Lance in this situation. He just hopes the Lance in that reality is smart enough to save the poor soul. 

 

“You’re such a fucking pain.” Yuzurak grumbles, pining Lances other hand at his side and pushing him against the wall. The clink of metal resonates throughout the room, making Lance realize once again that there is no way he is getting out of this. But it will be okay. 

 

Everything will be okay. Maybe he can persuade the Galra? Or even come up with a trade?

 

Yuzuraks grip is firm, which sadly grounds Lance. He would rather be emotionally distant and numb during this. Whatever  _ this _ was. 

 

Yuzurak hums, “Not fighting back are we? I thought you were a Paladin. I expected more of a fight from you than that. Pathetic.” 

 

Lance winces at the Galra’s vulgar tone. He clamps his eyes shut, making the decision he would rather not look at Yuzuraks animalistic eyes and how his free hand cradles Lances jaw, sending a shiver down his spine. A bad shiver.

 

“Odd. I didn’t think humans healed that fast.” He says, trailing his calloused fingers down his neck. A sudden act of defiance bursts through Lances body, mustering up a ball of saliva he spits at the Galra.

 

Lance wasn’t ready, hell, he was never really ready for anything that was thrown his way. “You bitch!” Yuzurak shouts, wiping the saliva from his face - using the same hand to grip Lances throat tightly, strangling him. 

 

Panic. He was in a panic. He couldn’t breath. He was going to die by the hands of Yuzurak and all Lance could do was panic. 

 

A Paladin? More like a waste of space. How could he save planets and space from dying at the hands of thousands of Galra when he couldn’t even defend himself from one?

 

Lance chokes back a sob before reeling it back in. No. He was not going to cry in front of Yuzurak. He will not give the General that satisfaction. 

 

He feels his feet start to leave the ground until he’s dropped, Yuzurak’s breath fanning across his face as the Galra steps closer; viewing Lances neck. Lance freezes. 

 

“What’s this?” He unlatches the teens thraot, a strangled cough and a wheeze making it’s way out his mouth. Yuzurak uses his finger to lower Lances shirt a little. 

 

_ The hickey. _

 

Lance swears time stops for his attacker; he analyzes the mark before trailing his eyes back up to the teens jaw to find the bruise he left a couple nights ago still prominent as ever. 

 

“I was right; humans don’t heal fast at all.” Lance felt awkward. He didn’t know what to do, and he wasn’t expecting to feel awkward, which made him feel more awkward - which caused more panic to bubble up in his system. Lance sees Yuzurak’s hand come away from his jaw, noticing the dark foundation on his purple fingers.

 

The Galra glances down at the strange liquid before looking into the teens eyes. “Trying to cover up our patheticness, are we?” Lance feels cold as his shirt is tugged down, stretching the fabric in the process. He lets out a shriek of surprise, feeling the Galras finger poke and prod at the gigantic hickey on his collarbone and the smaller one at the base of his neck. 

 

“Who did this?” Yuzurak mutters darkly. Lance doesn’t respond.

 

“Who did this?” No, he refuses to. 

 

“WHO DID THIS?!” Lance tries to pull away, his handcuff clinking against the pole. 

 

Yuzurak growls and Lance feels the air knocked out of him, beginning a coughing fit as Yuzurak retracts his fist from the teens abdomen. “You’re really pissing me off.” 

 

Pain spreads through the teens gut; wishing he hadn't eaten so much for dinner. Maybe he can get out of this. If he distracts Yuzurak for long enough- 

 

Lance feels his whole body spin, making him nauseas. He winces as the arm connected to the pole twists behind his back and feels the cool surface of the wall on his front. 

 

_ Wait.  _

 

A hand makes itself known, trying to undo the button on his jeans.

 

_ No. _

 

He can feel Yuzuraks warm breath against the back of his neck as he presses his body close to Lances.

 

_ Please God no.  _

 

Lance begins to struggle; his body acting on its own accord as his mind draws a blank. Too many emotions of fear, anxiety, and terror resonating through him. He doesn’t know what to feel. 

 

“W-What are you doing?!” 

 

Yuzurak ignores the teens question, figuring out the button and letting his hand wonder down. 

 

Lance screams. He screams so loud he swears he’s burst his own eardrums. He screamed so loud that he doesn’t remember when he stopped; Yuzuraks hand forcing Lances mouth shut. The teen can taste the salt on Yuzuraks fingers and gags, bringing his tongue back far into his mouth to stay away from the horrid things. 

 

The Red Paladins body still moves on its own accord, Lances free hand trying to claw at Yuzuraks face  _ to get him the fuck away.  _

 

“Stop fucking struggling!” 

 

“No! Stop!” 

 

And he does, after forcing Lances wrist against the wall to contain him. “You really want me to stop? You lead me all the way here and you’re asking me to stop?! You’re the one who was asking for it in the first place you fucking whore!”

 

Lances breath hitches in his throat, silence taking over the room _. A whore? _

 

The teen can feel the anger radiating off of the Galra in waves. A stabbing pain resonates through his wrist causing Lance to cry out in pain. Yuzurak shoves his finger further into Lances mouth and he gags.

 

Lances wrist fucking hurt. He doesn’t dare move it encase he’ll cause more injury to it. Yuzurak takes this as a good sign, pressing his groin against Lances ass and dragging his hand back down beneath Lances pants. 

 

Lance feels tears bubble up to the surface in his eyes, his breathing becoming laboured. 

 

“Please…st-” Lance feels like death would be much better than this when an involuntary noise escapes past his lips as the Galra makes his way past the teens underwear. 

 

“Oh? You like that do you?” 

 

_ No. I want to fucking die.  _

 

Lance holds in a gasp. The fabric from Lances legs is slipped down, Yuzurak bringing his knee between the teens legs and grinding against his ass.

 

_ I can’t do this. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t fucking do this.  _

 

Anger courses its way through Lances mind. Angry at how he let this happen. Why did he let this happen?! He’s so weak and pathetic. Useless. Complete and utterly useless. Why is he a Paladin? How is he a Paladin? Is he really this powerless?! 

 

“Get the fuck off me!” Lance shouts, knocking his head back into Yuzuraks. The Galras grip loosens; Lance taking this opportunity to use his words against the General. He knows he’s weaker physically. But mentally Lance is sure he can take him on. 

 

But if it doesn’t work, he would rather not think about it.

 

“You are part of the Marmora, aren’t you supposed to be helping people?! Not sexually assaulting them?” Lance shouts, his voice coming out raspy from the shock and panic of the situation. “What is your crew going to think when they find out, huh? Mr second in command of the 4th division of the Blade? You can say buh-bye to your promotion! Because once everyone knows they’ll-” 

 

“If you say anything about this, I’ll hurt Keith.”

 

Lance feels his world stop spinning. “What?” 

 

“You heard me. If anyone hears about this, I’ll hurt Keith.”

 

Lance stutters, “No you wouldn’t he’s your best fighter-” 

 

“I’ve seen the way you look at him..” The boy stiffens as Yuzurak brings his mouth to Lance’s ear, “And besides; if anyone heard about this, they would know how disgusting you truly are. Especially if they found out about your little crush on Keith.”

 

Lance tries to pull his head away from the galra. That isn’t true. That is most definitely not true. Keith likes him back...right? Keith was the one that started kissing him in the first place!

 

“Oh, would you look at that. You’re really just a filthy and disgusting boy who likes men. Honestly, would they really accept you? They barely accept you as you are now.”

 

_ No, the team loves me. They accept me. They do love me, they care about me. But then again, it could be a very different story when I have my back turned.. _

 

He doesn’t respond, instead closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in.

 

“So,” Yuzurak leans in, “If you ever be a fucking snitch-”

 

“No.” Lance feels Yuzurak’s scaly hand grab his chin, pain blooming across his neck as the alien tosses it at an odd angle to make eye contact. The teen hisses, eyes betraying him as a stray tear rolls down his cheek.

 

“Would you look at that, nothing more than a broken down toy. What good would this bring others if all it would do is bring them down?” The teen avoids eye contact.

 

“They don’t want to hear about your problems. No one cares, Lance.” 

 

_ No one cares, Lance. _

_ No one cares, Lance. _

 

_ No one- _

 

The teen chokes back a sob, Yuzurak pulling down Lances underwear in a haste. The Galra brings his hand back to Lances mouth, shoving them in. 

 

“Suck.”

 

That was Yuzuraks first mistake.

 

Lance bites down so hard he swears he could hear his teeth ripping through Yuzuraks skin.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT!” 

 

Yuzurak’s hand comes slamming down across Lance’s temple, forcing his head to jerk backwards and into the pole that’s keeping his cuffs in place. Pain. All he can feel is pain. It feels like he’s swimming. 

 

“S-Stop…”

 

The Galra forcefully strokes Lances length, creating friction. He can’t believe this is happening, his mind taking a back seat in this once again. His dick hurts from the strength of Yuzurak’s grip.

 

“I said stop!” 

 

“Do you really think I’m going to listen to you, you stupid idiot?!”

 

Under normal circumstances, Lance would have laughed and mocked Yuzurak for using those words in the same sentence. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and Lance feels this unyielding fear that this might become a normal circumstance. 

 

Yuzurak circles Lance’s entrance, making Lance choke on his saliva. The Red Paladin tries to hold himself together, not letting himself cry. A pain enters his ass, he grits his teeth and closes his eyes wishing for this hell to end. 

 

A second finger enters and Lance clenches his fists, surely leaving crescent moons etched into his palms.

 

Panic starts to settle in on Lance right away as his breath comes out in awkward pants, leaving Lance gasping for breath and not getting enough air in his lungs.  

 

A panic attack. He’s about to have a fucking panic attack.

When a third finger enters is when the cuban lets out a sob. Realization hits him like a train - a train trekking on full speed ahead and he’s tied to the railway tracks.

 

_ Everything feels too real. My head hurts, my lungs hurt, my ass hurts. _

 

“I-it hurts..p-please stop I’m begging-” If being stabbed right this second was an option, he would prefer that over the moan that wretches out his mouth.

 

He feels disgusting.

 

Yuzurak chuckles in return causing Lances hair to stand on end. “Your words and body say different things. Looks like to me you want more.”

 

“No! I don- ah!” Once again Lances body betrays him as an immense pleasure runs through his lower half. A hearty laugh is earned in return as Yuzurak uses his pre-cummed covered hand to grit the teens jaw, forcing his neck at an odd angle again to face his attackers menacing features. 

 

“Oh would you look at that, you’re crying. Pathetic.”  

 

A fourth finger and Lance is seeing stars; pain over-running the pleasure. Yuzurak’s fingers plunge deeper and deeper inside of the teen every time, and every time Lance feels immense hatred towards himself. 

 

He hates that he let this happen.

 

He hates that he is too weak to stop this.

 

He hates that he can’t help himself.

 

He hates that he hates himself.

 

He really should have ended his life when he had the chance. Come to think of it, why did he let Hunk stop him? Voltron would be so much stronger without his weak, pathetic, whiny self around. Keith would be piloting Red, Allura taking a step up the ladder and piloting Blue. Voltron would have been invincible. But no, Hunk had to come in and ruin his cha-

 

“fUCK!” Lance can’t breath. He can’t fucking breath. His mind races, his mouth spewing out spanish curses and his lungs, oh his poor fucking lungs can’t find any fucking oxygen! 

 

The pain in his ass is unbearable; Yuzurak’s length nestling itself deep inside before filtering out slightly and being harshly plunged back in. Swirls cloud Lances vision, his mind becoming hazy - a faint metallic taste encompassing his mouth - he realizes he’s subconsciously biting his lip to stop himself from screaming. He doesn’t want to be hit again.

 

And he doesn’t want Keith to get hurt.

 

_ Keith. Think about Keith. Beautiful, purple eyes. Perfect, glossy porcelain skin. A stupid, soft mullet-  _

 

Yuzuraks moan interrupts Lances thought process and the situation at hand is being forced upon him once again.

 

He wants to die. He really wants to fucking die as he cries out, begging and pleading for Yuzurak to stop - but nothing changes. 

 

Because nothing ever changes for Lance.

 

He’s still sad. Anxious 24/7. Annoys the shit out of everyone. Continuously feels like shit and wants to die. And after this? 

 

It’s going to get worse.

 

Uninvited moans escape Lances mouth as the pain is slowly replaced with pleasure. He feels filthy. Disgusting. He resents himself more and more with each unwanted moan that falls out of his goddamn mouth. 

 

Lance grits his teeth and shuts his eyes as his ass clenches around Yuzuraks length, cumming with a loud moan. Calloused hands grip his hips harshley and Lance bites his tongue, the metallic taste of blooding sweeping across his mouth even stronger as Yuzurak thrusts into him faster. 

 

He can’t hold it in anymore; letting out a wretched, loud cry as the Galra cums inside of Lance. All that’s left is Lances hyperventilating sobs and Yuzuraks sharp breaths echoing throughout the small room.

 

Yuzurak pulls Lance by the hair to face him, forcing his small frame around to face Yuzuraks larger one.

 

_ Everything hurts.  _

 

“You making such a face makes me want to go for round two.” The soldier threatens. Lance can’t help but sob.

 

Lance doesn’t realize he’s falling until his knees hit the cold, tiled floor and pain shoots through his bones. He feels too many emotions. So many that he can’t help but cry harder, curling in on himself and becoming a pathetic, weeping mess on the floor.

 

He was raped.

 

Lance was  _ raped.  _

 

The jingling of handcuffs reach Lances ears. “Like I said before,” Yuzurak speaks up, “If you tell anyone about this, I will hurt Keith. Maybe not just Keith. Hunk too, maybe even Pidge. We don’t want Pidge going through what you just did, do we?” 

 

Fear for his friends takes a chokehold of Lance, but he can’t bring himself to retaliate.The teen can practically hear the chuckle from Yuzuraks words. It makes him feel sick.

 

“And of course, no one will believe you anyway.” He lets out a throaty laugh, “Who would believe someone as worthless as you?” 

 

Darkness is the only thing Lance can see as he buries his face further into his hands. He knows he should be more on edge, be up and ready to fight but he can’t move. 

 

Yuzurak sighs, “And here I thought Voltron was invincible,” Lance flinches as the Galra General nudges him in the side. “Fucking pathetic.” 

 

Lances crying doesn’t stop, whole body racking with sobs even as the sound of Yuzuraks echoing footsteps get further and further away.

 

His emotions jumble his brain around; creating a tornado of putrid thoughts. The Red Paladin still can’t breathe properly.

 

The team does love him, right?  _ They won’t accept me. _

 

And Keith? What about Keith?! There is something more than friendship there!  _ He’s a teenager out in the vastness of space fighting in a war; the only person he can really fuck around with is me. _

 

Hunk. Hunk loves him. Hunk cares about him, he’s his best friend.  _ Until I get too annoying and clingy.  _

 

He pilots Red, a Lion of Voltron, that’s gotta count for something.  _ I’m a placeholder for the real Red Paladin. Someone as pathetic and useless as me can’t be the real one. _

Lances breathing becomes more erratic, he really can’t fucking breathe. He tastes blood in his mouth. Opening his eyes in a panic, he sees a small trail of blood rolling down his arm. The teen releases his fingers slightly, taking in the damage he caused himself. 

 

_ I want to kill myself. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have ended this chapter in so many good places, but no. I’m going to end it here like the little bitch I am.


End file.
